Constitution and Norms under Attack: Military, Judiciary, Administration, Congress, International 5
This is a continuation of the topic Constitution and Norms under Attack: Military, Judiciary, Administration, Congress, International 4.
This topic was continued by Constitution and Norms under Attack: Military, Judiciary, Administration, Congress, International 6.
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1margd
Again, the Trump Administration does not honor commitments? Work contracts. USMCA. Security for Ukraine's nukes. US AID. Fulbright scholars. $$. Social Security?
Homeland Security Tells TSA Agents It Will Ignore Labor Contract
Allison Pohle | March 7, 2025
Policy change sets up fight with union representing more than 40,000 TSA workers after seven-year agreement was reached in 2024...
https://www.wsj.com/business/homeland-security-tells-tsa-agents-it-will-ignore-l...
Homeland Security Tells TSA Agents It Will Ignore Labor Contract
Allison Pohle | March 7, 2025
Policy change sets up fight with union representing more than 40,000 TSA workers after seven-year agreement was reached in 2024...
https://www.wsj.com/business/homeland-security-tells-tsa-agents-it-will-ignore-l...
2margd
Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social | March 7, 2025 at 5:41 PM:
Founder & reigning monarch at TPM. Lapsed historian.
FRIGGIN' WILD: In email obtained by TPM, White House claims that the Appointments Clause of the US constitution conflicts with Trump's "inherent authority" ...
EXCLUSIVE: Trump Makes Aggressive New Claim of Executive Power To Circumvent The Senate
Josh Kovensky | March 7, 2025
...Trump’s wide-ranging effort to bring independent agencies firmly under his control provoked a dramatic confrontation this week at the DC office of the U.S African Development Foundation. The White House Presidential Personnel Office and elements of Elon Musk’s DOGE team moved to oust the board of USADF and purported to install a new acting chairman of the board, a step that legal experts tell TPM is unlawful.
The full extent of the confrontation at USADF became public when the president of the independent agency filed a lawsuit Thursday trying to block the White House’s assault on its independence. The lawsuit refers to a Feb. 28 missive to USADF management from the White House Presidential Personnel Office claiming to appoint Pete Marocco – a Trump official known for helping strangle USAID from within – as “acting chair” of USADF’s board.
TPM has obtained the email in question, which contains the broadest assertion of presidential power over independent agencies yet made by the second Trump administration. In it, Trent Morse, deputy assistant to the President and deputy director of presidential personnel at the White House, stakes out a legal position that would undercut the Senate’s power to confirm new officers at agencies like USADF, experts say. Trump, Morse asserted, would have the “inherent authority under Article II” to appoint acting officials without going through the Senate’s process of advice and consent ...
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/exclusive-trump-makes-aggressive-new-claim-of...
Founder & reigning monarch at TPM. Lapsed historian.
FRIGGIN' WILD: In email obtained by TPM, White House claims that the Appointments Clause of the US constitution conflicts with Trump's "inherent authority" ...
EXCLUSIVE: Trump Makes Aggressive New Claim of Executive Power To Circumvent The Senate
Josh Kovensky | March 7, 2025
...Trump’s wide-ranging effort to bring independent agencies firmly under his control provoked a dramatic confrontation this week at the DC office of the U.S African Development Foundation. The White House Presidential Personnel Office and elements of Elon Musk’s DOGE team moved to oust the board of USADF and purported to install a new acting chairman of the board, a step that legal experts tell TPM is unlawful.
The full extent of the confrontation at USADF became public when the president of the independent agency filed a lawsuit Thursday trying to block the White House’s assault on its independence. The lawsuit refers to a Feb. 28 missive to USADF management from the White House Presidential Personnel Office claiming to appoint Pete Marocco – a Trump official known for helping strangle USAID from within – as “acting chair” of USADF’s board.
TPM has obtained the email in question, which contains the broadest assertion of presidential power over independent agencies yet made by the second Trump administration. In it, Trent Morse, deputy assistant to the President and deputy director of presidential personnel at the White House, stakes out a legal position that would undercut the Senate’s power to confirm new officers at agencies like USADF, experts say. Trump, Morse asserted, would have the “inherent authority under Article II” to appoint acting officials without going through the Senate’s process of advice and consent ...
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/exclusive-trump-makes-aggressive-new-claim-of...
3margd
Angus Johnston @angus.bsky.social | March 9, 2025 at 10:22 PM:
CUNY prof. Historian of, and advocate for, student organizing.
Let's be really really clear. The Trump admin chose a Palestinian activist as the target of its first lawless political detention precisely BECAUSE they believe that will split the opposition.
If you shrug at the abduction of Mahmoud Khalil, or worse, cheer it on, you're following Trump's script.
_______________________________________
US immigration agents arrest Palestinian student protester at Columbia University in Trump crackdown
Jonathan Allen | March 10, 2025
... Secretary of State Marco Rubio shared a news report of Khalil's arrest on social media on Sunday, adding the comment: "We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported." He did not elaborate and spokespeople for Rubio did not respond to questions...
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-authorities-arrest-palestinian-student-prote...
------------------------------------------------------
margd: Khalil has green card, was advocating for Gaza protesters to U, was moved to remote LA jail.
4margd
>3 margd:
Evan Bernick, a finite mode with a resolute floof @evanbernick.bsky.social | March 9, 2025 at 10:06 PM:
Former judge Maryanne Trump Barry, the president's sister:
"The issue ... is whether an alien who is in this country legally can ... be forcibly removed ... in the unfettered discretion of the Secretary of State and without any meaningful opportunity to be heard. The answer is a ringing 'no.'"
... Massieu v. Reno, 915 F.Supp. 681 (1996). New Jersey district court. Here’s the intro:
"Plaintiff, Mario Ruiz Massieu, seeks a permanent injunction enjoining the deportation proceeding instituted against him pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1251(a)(4)(C)(i) and a declaration that the statute, which has not previously been construed in any reported judicial opinion, is unconstitutional. That statute, by its express terms, confers upon a single individual, the Secretary of State, the unfettered and unreviewable discretion to deport any alien lawfully within the United States, not for identified reasons relating to his or conduct in the United States or elsewhere but, rather, because that person's mere presence here would impact in some unexplained way on the foreign policy interests of the United States. Thus, the statute represents a breathtaking departure both from well established legislative precedent which commands deportation based on adjudications of defined impermissible conduct by the alien in the United States, and from well established precedent with respect to extradition which commands extradition based on adjudications of probable cause to believe that the alien has engaged in defined impermissible conduct elsewhere." https://bsky.app/profile/evanbernick.bsky.social/post/3ljyhp457a22f
Evan Bernick, a finite mode with a resolute floof @evanbernick.bsky.social | March 9, 2025 at 10:49 PM:
The court held it unconstitutional. Because vagueness, procedural due process, nondelegation. But the government appealed, and the Third Circuit reversed. Didn’t reach the merits. Here’s the opening. Recognize the author?
"ALITO, Circuit Judge: This is an appeal from an order of the district court declaring unconstitutional § 241(a)(4)(C)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (the "INA" or the "Act"), 8 U.S.C. § 1251(a)(4)(C)(i), and enjoining further deportation proceedings against plaintiff under that provision. Entertaining jurisdiction over plaintiffs constitutional claims under 28 U.S.C. § 1331, the district court held that § 241(a)(4)(C)(i) violates the Due Process Clause because it is impermissibly vague and deprives aliens such as plaintiff of a meaningful opportunity to be heard. In addition, the court held that § 241(a)(4)(C)(i) represents an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power. We do not reach the merits of the constitutional questions decided by the district court. Instead, we hold that the district lacked jurisdiction to entertain plaintiff's claims."
ALT https://bsky.app/profile/evanbernick.bsky.social/post/3ljyhtisp3c2f
Evan Bernick, a finite mode with a resolute floof @evanbernick.bsky.social | March 9, 2025 at 10:06 PM:
Former judge Maryanne Trump Barry, the president's sister:
"The issue ... is whether an alien who is in this country legally can ... be forcibly removed ... in the unfettered discretion of the Secretary of State and without any meaningful opportunity to be heard. The answer is a ringing 'no.'"
... Massieu v. Reno, 915 F.Supp. 681 (1996). New Jersey district court. Here’s the intro:
"Plaintiff, Mario Ruiz Massieu, seeks a permanent injunction enjoining the deportation proceeding instituted against him pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1251(a)(4)(C)(i) and a declaration that the statute, which has not previously been construed in any reported judicial opinion, is unconstitutional. That statute, by its express terms, confers upon a single individual, the Secretary of State, the unfettered and unreviewable discretion to deport any alien lawfully within the United States, not for identified reasons relating to his or conduct in the United States or elsewhere but, rather, because that person's mere presence here would impact in some unexplained way on the foreign policy interests of the United States. Thus, the statute represents a breathtaking departure both from well established legislative precedent which commands deportation based on adjudications of defined impermissible conduct by the alien in the United States, and from well established precedent with respect to extradition which commands extradition based on adjudications of probable cause to believe that the alien has engaged in defined impermissible conduct elsewhere." https://bsky.app/profile/evanbernick.bsky.social/post/3ljyhp457a22f
Evan Bernick, a finite mode with a resolute floof @evanbernick.bsky.social | March 9, 2025 at 10:49 PM:
The court held it unconstitutional. Because vagueness, procedural due process, nondelegation. But the government appealed, and the Third Circuit reversed. Didn’t reach the merits. Here’s the opening. Recognize the author?
"ALITO, Circuit Judge: This is an appeal from an order of the district court declaring unconstitutional § 241(a)(4)(C)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (the "INA" or the "Act"), 8 U.S.C. § 1251(a)(4)(C)(i), and enjoining further deportation proceedings against plaintiff under that provision. Entertaining jurisdiction over plaintiffs constitutional claims under 28 U.S.C. § 1331, the district court held that § 241(a)(4)(C)(i) violates the Due Process Clause because it is impermissibly vague and deprives aliens such as plaintiff of a meaningful opportunity to be heard. In addition, the court held that § 241(a)(4)(C)(i) represents an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power. We do not reach the merits of the constitutional questions decided by the district court. Instead, we hold that the district lacked jurisdiction to entertain plaintiff's claims."
ALT https://bsky.app/profile/evanbernick.bsky.social/post/3ljyhtisp3c2f
5margd
Justice Roberts rebukes Trump's call to impeach Venezuela deportation case judge
Avery Lotz | 18 March 2025
Chief Justice John Roberts said impeaching federal judges is "not an appropriate response" to disagreeing with their rulings in a rare statement Tuesday.
Why it matters: Roberts' extraordinary comments come as a rebuke to President Trump's Tuesday post saying the federal judge who ordered flights deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members to turn around "should be IMPEACHED!!!"
The Trump administration ignored the order, claiming it was issued after the flights had already departed and left American jurisdiction.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg set a Tuesday deadline for the government to provide additional information regarding their decision to follow through with the deportations under an 18th century war time law.
Driving the news: "For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision," Roberts said in a statement shared by the Supreme Court's public information office.
"The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose," he continued.
Flashback: Roberts' statement harkens back to a 2018 exchange where Roberts pushed back on Trump bashing the federal judiciary.
The U.S. doesn't have "Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges," Roberts said in a statement at the time responding to Trump's characterization of a judge who temporarily halted his first-term asylum ban as an "Obama judge."
"The independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for," Roberts said in his statement to the AP at the time.
Trump on Tuesday similarly bashed Boasberg as a "Radical Left Lunatic" who was "sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama."
https://www.axios.com/2025/03/18/justice-roberts-trump-impeach-judge-venezuela
Avery Lotz | 18 March 2025
Chief Justice John Roberts said impeaching federal judges is "not an appropriate response" to disagreeing with their rulings in a rare statement Tuesday.
Why it matters: Roberts' extraordinary comments come as a rebuke to President Trump's Tuesday post saying the federal judge who ordered flights deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members to turn around "should be IMPEACHED!!!"
The Trump administration ignored the order, claiming it was issued after the flights had already departed and left American jurisdiction.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg set a Tuesday deadline for the government to provide additional information regarding their decision to follow through with the deportations under an 18th century war time law.
Driving the news: "For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision," Roberts said in a statement shared by the Supreme Court's public information office.
"The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose," he continued.
Flashback: Roberts' statement harkens back to a 2018 exchange where Roberts pushed back on Trump bashing the federal judiciary.
The U.S. doesn't have "Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges," Roberts said in a statement at the time responding to Trump's characterization of a judge who temporarily halted his first-term asylum ban as an "Obama judge."
"The independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for," Roberts said in his statement to the AP at the time.
Trump on Tuesday similarly bashed Boasberg as a "Radical Left Lunatic" who was "sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama."
https://www.axios.com/2025/03/18/justice-roberts-trump-impeach-judge-venezuela
6margd
David Ryan Miller @davidryanmiller.com | March 20, 2025 at 6:20 AM
Asst Prof American University (American institutions). Fmr. asst prof ETSU & UC-Riverside & Vanderbilt post-doc CSDI. WUSTL, URI, & GWU alum.
In the 2000s, the Supreme Court ruled time and again that even suspected terrorists captured in war zones overseas were entitled to due process.
In no sane world does Rubio's position pass constitutional muster.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social | March 19, 2025 at 11:23 PM:
Senior Fellow at the American Immigration Council. Commenting generally on immigration law and policy.
Rubio’s position seems to be:
- We get to say who is a terrorist. Our decision is final. It can’t be challenged. Just trust us.
- Once we decide you are a terrorist, we can immediately deport you. No judges.
- After we deport you, we can make you rot in a foreign prison. No criminal charges needed.
On Hugh Hewitt’s show, Marco Rubio says El Salvador is “housing” people sent by the US. But he never says on what possible legal authority? These people haven’t committed any crime in El Salvador and by their own admission “many” have never committed a crime in the US. It all seems entirely lawless.
"And then we have Tren de Aragua, organized gang members and alien enemies inside the United States who are being housed by him in an excellent prison system that he has at a fraction of the cost of what it would cost to house them here in the United States. It is a matter that we've made. It's a foreign policy matter. And it's one that we weren't going to go back on, because we make arrangements with foreign leaders. That's the conduct of foreign policy. We can't have judges running the foreign policy."
https://bsky.app/profile/reichlinmelnick.bsky.social/post/3lkrqpbmiy22n
Asst Prof American University (American institutions). Fmr. asst prof ETSU & UC-Riverside & Vanderbilt post-doc CSDI. WUSTL, URI, & GWU alum.
In the 2000s, the Supreme Court ruled time and again that even suspected terrorists captured in war zones overseas were entitled to due process.
In no sane world does Rubio's position pass constitutional muster.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social | March 19, 2025 at 11:23 PM:
Senior Fellow at the American Immigration Council. Commenting generally on immigration law and policy.
Rubio’s position seems to be:
- We get to say who is a terrorist. Our decision is final. It can’t be challenged. Just trust us.
- Once we decide you are a terrorist, we can immediately deport you. No judges.
- After we deport you, we can make you rot in a foreign prison. No criminal charges needed.
On Hugh Hewitt’s show, Marco Rubio says El Salvador is “housing” people sent by the US. But he never says on what possible legal authority? These people haven’t committed any crime in El Salvador and by their own admission “many” have never committed a crime in the US. It all seems entirely lawless.
"And then we have Tren de Aragua, organized gang members and alien enemies inside the United States who are being housed by him in an excellent prison system that he has at a fraction of the cost of what it would cost to house them here in the United States. It is a matter that we've made. It's a foreign policy matter. And it's one that we weren't going to go back on, because we make arrangements with foreign leaders. That's the conduct of foreign policy. We can't have judges running the foreign policy."
https://bsky.app/profile/reichlinmelnick.bsky.social/post/3lkrqpbmiy22n
7margd
The Newsroom - America is not the greatest country in the world anymore... (4:48)
(Restricted language)
tpratt441 | Jul 21, 2012
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTjMqda19wk
(Restricted language)
tpratt441 | Jul 21, 2012
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTjMqda19wk
8margd
In an open letter to the country’s 100 largest law firms, Delaware AG Kathy Jennings and a coalition of 21 attorneys general calls on the legal community to resist attempts at bullying or retribution and to uphold the values of their profession.
Full letter:
https://news.delaware.gov/files/2025/03/Open-Letter-to-the-Legal-Community-Regar...
- Tyler McBrien @tylermcbrien.bsky.social | March 28, 2025 at 4:35 PM:
Managing Editor at Lawfare @lawfare.bsky.social. Writing in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Washington Post, Slate, Mother Jones, Foreign Policy, The New Republic, the Los Angeles Review of Books...
____________________________________________
Legal community shaken by a powerful law firm's decision to give in to Trump's demands
President Donald Trump rescinded his executive order targeting Paul Weiss — after the law firm agreed to certain conditions.
Ryan J. Reilly and Lawrence Hurley | March 21, 2025
... conversations that are happening behind the scenes at law firms and within the Justice Department in the chaotic two months since Trump took office.
Trump has directly targeted corporate law firms by issuing executive orders that either strip lawyers of security clearance or prevent them from working with the federal government.
.. Any joint effort by firms to make a public stand against Trump has so far fizzled, although there is an ongoing discussion among firms over filing an amicus brief in a case brought by Perkins Coie against an executive order Trump issued targeting that firm, the lawyer said. Reluctance about speaking up is driven mostly by commercial interests, namely the fear of losing clients, the lawyer added.
... George Conway, a frequent Trump critic and a former partner at a major law firm, told NBC News that firms need to look beyond the bottom line.
“They have a moral duty to defend the very system that has allowed them to make the kind of money that they make. These law firms are now basically so profit-driven that they are putting their own economic interests...above the system,” Conway said. “That to me is not only morally appalling and morally fraught and just contemptible, but at the end of the day, self-defeating.”
... Mark Zaid, a Washington attorney with a focus on national security law, said ... the targeting of law firms reminded him of a line from Shakespeare’s “Henry VI,” in which a character named Dick the Butcher says, “Let’s kill all the lawyers.”
“Everybody always looks at that statement as if it is an assault, attack, insult against lawyers ... It’s actually quite the opposite, because Dick the Butcher was an authoritarian who was trying to take power, and he had to kill all the lawyers because the lawyers were the only ones who could get in his way and stop him. And I think what Trump is doing is exactly that.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/legal-community-shaken-pow...
___________________________________________
The New York Times @nytimes.com | March 29, 2025 at 9:22 AM {bsky.com}
News Analysis: President Trump and his administration’s lawyers are trying to deter law firms from suing his administration. His actions could undermine the basic right of Americans to sue their government.
PAYWALL
Trump’s Not-So-Subtle Purpose in Fighting Big Law Firms
The president has attacked law firms for “frivolous” litigation. But his actions could undermine the basic right of Americans to sue their government.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/29/business/trump-law-firms-lawsuits.html
Full letter:
https://news.delaware.gov/files/2025/03/Open-Letter-to-the-Legal-Community-Regar...
- Tyler McBrien @tylermcbrien.bsky.social | March 28, 2025 at 4:35 PM:
Managing Editor at Lawfare @lawfare.bsky.social. Writing in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Washington Post, Slate, Mother Jones, Foreign Policy, The New Republic, the Los Angeles Review of Books...
____________________________________________
Legal community shaken by a powerful law firm's decision to give in to Trump's demands
President Donald Trump rescinded his executive order targeting Paul Weiss — after the law firm agreed to certain conditions.
Ryan J. Reilly and Lawrence Hurley | March 21, 2025
... conversations that are happening behind the scenes at law firms and within the Justice Department in the chaotic two months since Trump took office.
Trump has directly targeted corporate law firms by issuing executive orders that either strip lawyers of security clearance or prevent them from working with the federal government.
.. Any joint effort by firms to make a public stand against Trump has so far fizzled, although there is an ongoing discussion among firms over filing an amicus brief in a case brought by Perkins Coie against an executive order Trump issued targeting that firm, the lawyer said. Reluctance about speaking up is driven mostly by commercial interests, namely the fear of losing clients, the lawyer added.
... George Conway, a frequent Trump critic and a former partner at a major law firm, told NBC News that firms need to look beyond the bottom line.
“They have a moral duty to defend the very system that has allowed them to make the kind of money that they make. These law firms are now basically so profit-driven that they are putting their own economic interests...above the system,” Conway said. “That to me is not only morally appalling and morally fraught and just contemptible, but at the end of the day, self-defeating.”
... Mark Zaid, a Washington attorney with a focus on national security law, said ... the targeting of law firms reminded him of a line from Shakespeare’s “Henry VI,” in which a character named Dick the Butcher says, “Let’s kill all the lawyers.”
“Everybody always looks at that statement as if it is an assault, attack, insult against lawyers ... It’s actually quite the opposite, because Dick the Butcher was an authoritarian who was trying to take power, and he had to kill all the lawyers because the lawyers were the only ones who could get in his way and stop him. And I think what Trump is doing is exactly that.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/legal-community-shaken-pow...
___________________________________________
The New York Times @nytimes.com | March 29, 2025 at 9:22 AM {bsky.com}
News Analysis: President Trump and his administration’s lawyers are trying to deter law firms from suing his administration. His actions could undermine the basic right of Americans to sue their government.
PAYWALL
Trump’s Not-So-Subtle Purpose in Fighting Big Law Firms
The president has attacked law firms for “frivolous” litigation. But his actions could undermine the basic right of Americans to sue their government.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/29/business/trump-law-firms-lawsuits.html
9margd
Like Vance would step aside, without a knife in his back -- hah!
Trump says ‘there are methods’ for seeking third term in White House
Maya Yang | 30 Mar 2025
In interview Trump said he wasn’t joking when he alluded to a purported loophole for a third term as president ...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/30/trump-third-term-president
Trump says ‘there are methods’ for seeking third term in White House
Maya Yang | 30 Mar 2025
In interview Trump said he wasn’t joking when he alluded to a purported loophole for a third term as president ...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/30/trump-third-term-president
10margd
Due process -- what a concept -- would have prevented this error...
Trump Admin Admits It Wrongfully Deported Man to El Salvadoran Prison, Won’t Bring Him Back
Nikki McCann Ramirez | April 1, 2025
Vice President J.D. Vance is now pushing misinformation about the DHS kicking Kilmar Abrego Garcia — who had a protection from removal order — out of the country
... Despite agreeing to pay Bukele $6 million a year to house the prisoners — which attorneys for Abrego Garcia have asked be withheld until he is returned to the United States — the government claimed in its filing that they have no jurisdiction over Abrego Garcia, or any of the other prisoners sent to CECOT, and cannot reasonably be expected to produce any of the deportees. ...
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-admin-admits-wrongfull...
Trump Admin Admits It Wrongfully Deported Man to El Salvadoran Prison, Won’t Bring Him Back
Nikki McCann Ramirez | April 1, 2025
Vice President J.D. Vance is now pushing misinformation about the DHS kicking Kilmar Abrego Garcia — who had a protection from removal order — out of the country
... Despite agreeing to pay Bukele $6 million a year to house the prisoners — which attorneys for Abrego Garcia have asked be withheld until he is returned to the United States — the government claimed in its filing that they have no jurisdiction over Abrego Garcia, or any of the other prisoners sent to CECOT, and cannot reasonably be expected to produce any of the deportees. ...
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-admin-admits-wrongfull...
11Molly3028
During the Trump 2.0 era, the little Constitution booklets that GOP reps carry around in their jacket pockets, are merely modern-day pocket protectors!
12margd
Jacob Bogage @jacobbogage.bsky.social | April 2, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Congress + economics for @washingtonpost.com.
Like many things we've covered at the IRS, this is a sea change.
Tax administration is supposed to be non-political.
Tax *investigations* are supposed to be super non-political.
And tax *criminal investigations* are supposed to be walled off from anything remotely political.
WaPo: ...Shapley’s appointment is a significant shift for the tax agency — which has historically had two political appointees, its commissioner and chief counsel — and a large promotion for Shapley, who has less experience in Washington than his predecessors, current and former officials said. He will now oversee more than 2,000 employees; he was responsible for about 75 before. His appointment has startled some of those officials, who fear it reveals that a partisan agenda for tax investigations could be coming — or that it could have the appearance of politicizing an agency that has previously been implicated in partisan scandals. Congress trained additional scrutiny on the IRS after Nixon’s administration used it to collect information about perceived enemies. Abuse of the tax system was one of the articles of impeachment filed against Nixon in 1974, though he resigned before impeachment proceeded ..."
https://bsky.app/profile/pamherd.bsky.social/post/3lltp5rop622k
----------------------------------------------
Pam Herd @pamherd.bsky.social | April 2, 2025 at 11:26 AM:
Carol Kakalec Kohn Professor of Social Policy. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
So Trump is gutting the agency, with estimates we'll lose 100s of billions in tax revenue, while using what's left of the IRS to target his 'enemies.' This administration makes Nixon look like a puppy dog.
Congress + economics for @washingtonpost.com.
Like many things we've covered at the IRS, this is a sea change.
Tax administration is supposed to be non-political.
Tax *investigations* are supposed to be super non-political.
And tax *criminal investigations* are supposed to be walled off from anything remotely political.
WaPo: ...Shapley’s appointment is a significant shift for the tax agency — which has historically had two political appointees, its commissioner and chief counsel — and a large promotion for Shapley, who has less experience in Washington than his predecessors, current and former officials said. He will now oversee more than 2,000 employees; he was responsible for about 75 before. His appointment has startled some of those officials, who fear it reveals that a partisan agenda for tax investigations could be coming — or that it could have the appearance of politicizing an agency that has previously been implicated in partisan scandals. Congress trained additional scrutiny on the IRS after Nixon’s administration used it to collect information about perceived enemies. Abuse of the tax system was one of the articles of impeachment filed against Nixon in 1974, though he resigned before impeachment proceeded ..."
https://bsky.app/profile/pamherd.bsky.social/post/3lltp5rop622k
----------------------------------------------
Pam Herd @pamherd.bsky.social | April 2, 2025 at 11:26 AM:
Carol Kakalec Kohn Professor of Social Policy. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
So Trump is gutting the agency, with estimates we'll lose 100s of billions in tax revenue, while using what's left of the IRS to target his 'enemies.' This administration makes Nixon look like a puppy dog.
13margd
Reportedly ~1% turned out for "Hands off" protests Saturday (5 April 2025). Peaceful, but police and counter protesters can be expected to be out next time...
The '3.5% rule': How a small minority can change the world
David Robson | 13 May 2019
Nonviolent protests are twice as likely to succeed as armed conflicts – and those engaging a threshold of 3.5% of the population have never failed to bring about change...
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190513-it-only-takes-35-of-people-to-change...
The '3.5% rule': How a small minority can change the world
David Robson | 13 May 2019
Nonviolent protests are twice as likely to succeed as armed conflicts – and those engaging a threshold of 3.5% of the population have never failed to bring about change...
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190513-it-only-takes-35-of-people-to-change...
14margd
David Rothschild {economist} @davmicrot.bsky.social | April 7, 2025 at 7:54 PM:
Grievances 16-19 in Declaration of Independence
16. "For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world"
17. "For imposing taxes on us without our consent"
18. "For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Jury trial"
19. "For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences"
_________________________________________
Interesting to reread entire list of grievances against the Crown in this time of Trump 2:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grievances_of_the_United_States_Declaration_of_Ind...
Grievances 16-19 in Declaration of Independence
16. "For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world"
17. "For imposing taxes on us without our consent"
18. "For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Jury trial"
19. "For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences"
_________________________________________
Interesting to reread entire list of grievances against the Crown in this time of Trump 2:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grievances_of_the_United_States_Declaration_of_Ind...
15margd
Lawyer for U-M protester detained at airport after spring break trip with family
Tresa Baldas | Updated 8 April 2025
Dearborn attorney Amir Makled was detained and questioned at Detroit Metro Airport about his clients and asked to surrender his cellphone.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) stated that electronic device searches are infrequent and unrelated to political beliefs, focusing on national security threats...
... For the 38-year-old civil rights and criminal defense attorney, it was a daunting experience that he says highlights a troubling phenomenon that's occurring across the United States: Lawyers are getting targeted for handling issues the administration of President Donald Trump disagrees with.
... While in the interrogation room, a man in plain clothes entered and began speaking to him. ‘We know you're a lawyer. We know you take on big cases.’ His latest high-profile client is among 7 demonstrators arrested last year following her involvement at a pro-Palestinian protest on the U-M campus...
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/wayne/2025/04/07/lawyer-for-u-m-...
Tresa Baldas | Updated 8 April 2025
Dearborn attorney Amir Makled was detained and questioned at Detroit Metro Airport about his clients and asked to surrender his cellphone.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) stated that electronic device searches are infrequent and unrelated to political beliefs, focusing on national security threats...
... For the 38-year-old civil rights and criminal defense attorney, it was a daunting experience that he says highlights a troubling phenomenon that's occurring across the United States: Lawyers are getting targeted for handling issues the administration of President Donald Trump disagrees with.
... While in the interrogation room, a man in plain clothes entered and began speaking to him. ‘We know you're a lawyer. We know you take on big cases.’ His latest high-profile client is among 7 demonstrators arrested last year following her involvement at a pro-Palestinian protest on the U-M campus...
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/wayne/2025/04/07/lawyer-for-u-m-...
16margd
Supreme Court backs Trump in controversial deportations case
Nina Totenberg, Christina Gatti | Updated April 7, 2025
Heard on All Things Considered (4 min)
... At issue in the case was the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, a controversial law invoked only three times in U.S. history, always during wartime, which allows for the detention and deportation of foreign nationals from countries actively invading the United States. The Trump administration argued that the law applied to Venezuelan gang members who were deemed to be invading the nation.
In an unsigned opinion Monday night, the court's conservative majority didn't rule on that question. But it gave the Trump administration all it needed to continue with the deportations, with one caveat. It said that from here on in, the alleged gang members need to be given notice of deportation, and the opportunity to contest the deportation.
The court, however, said there is only one way to do that. And that is by challenging their detentions on a case-by-case basis. {in Texas!}
... The order marks a win for the Trump administration, even if temporary, and it could well be a harbinger of things to come as the administration continues to clash with federal courts and assert the executive's dominance over the other two branches of government.
The initial lawsuit challenging the order, from the American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward, had sought to block use of the Alien Enemies Act through a "class action," in which a handful of people can sue on behalf of all other similarly situated individuals...
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/07/nx-s1-5345601/supreme-court-alien-enemies-act
---------------------------------------------------------
David Rothkopf @djrothkopf.bsky.social | April 7, 2025 at 8:47 PM:
CEO/Editor-The DSR Network, Host-Deep State Radio, Siliconsciousness, other pods, Columnist-The Daily Beast, author...
Reminder: We are not at war with Venezuela. The people deported are not enemies. The law in question should not apply. Among the most dangerous aspects of the SCOTUS ruling is the idea that the president and his people have the right to arbitrarily determine who our enemies are.
Nina Totenberg, Christina Gatti | Updated April 7, 2025
Heard on All Things Considered (4 min)
... At issue in the case was the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, a controversial law invoked only three times in U.S. history, always during wartime, which allows for the detention and deportation of foreign nationals from countries actively invading the United States. The Trump administration argued that the law applied to Venezuelan gang members who were deemed to be invading the nation.
In an unsigned opinion Monday night, the court's conservative majority didn't rule on that question. But it gave the Trump administration all it needed to continue with the deportations, with one caveat. It said that from here on in, the alleged gang members need to be given notice of deportation, and the opportunity to contest the deportation.
The court, however, said there is only one way to do that. And that is by challenging their detentions on a case-by-case basis. {in Texas!}
... The order marks a win for the Trump administration, even if temporary, and it could well be a harbinger of things to come as the administration continues to clash with federal courts and assert the executive's dominance over the other two branches of government.
The initial lawsuit challenging the order, from the American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward, had sought to block use of the Alien Enemies Act through a "class action," in which a handful of people can sue on behalf of all other similarly situated individuals...
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/07/nx-s1-5345601/supreme-court-alien-enemies-act
---------------------------------------------------------
David Rothkopf @djrothkopf.bsky.social | April 7, 2025 at 8:47 PM:
CEO/Editor-The DSR Network, Host-Deep State Radio, Siliconsciousness, other pods, Columnist-The Daily Beast, author...
Reminder: We are not at war with Venezuela. The people deported are not enemies. The law in question should not apply. Among the most dangerous aspects of the SCOTUS ruling is the idea that the president and his people have the right to arbitrarily determine who our enemies are.
17margd
Tenth Amendment Rights Reserved to the States and the People
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/amendment-10/
______________________________________________
interstate commerce / United States law
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
interstate commerce, in U.S. constitutional law, any commercial transactions or traffic that cross state boundaries or that involve more than one state. The traditional concept that the free flow of commerce between states should not be impeded has been used to effect a wide range of regulations, both federal and state. A further extension of the established notion regarding the free flow of trade was introduced when Title II of the 1964 Civil Rights Act—dealing with discriminatory practices in public accommodations—was upheld by the Supreme Court. The court decided that a business, although operating within a single state, could affect interstate commerce with its restrictive laws and was, therefore, at odds with the federal legislation that proved to be enabling of the Constitution’s commerce clause...
https://www.britannica.com/money/interstate-commerce-United-States-law
______________________________________________
PROTECTING AMERICAN ENERGY FROM STATE OVERREACH
Executive Orders | April 8, 2025
... These State laws and policies weaken our national security and devastate Americans by driving up energy costs for families coast-to-coast...
These State laws and policies try to dictate interstate and international disputes over air, water, and natural resources...
These State laws and policies are fundamentally irreconcilable with my Administration’s objective to unleash American energy. They should not stand...
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/protecting-american-ener...
______________________________________________
Maine sues Trump administration for funding freeze over {state} policy on transgender student athletes
Donald Padgett | April 08 2025
https://www.advocate.com/politics/maine-sues-trump-administration
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/amendment-10/
______________________________________________
interstate commerce / United States law
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
interstate commerce, in U.S. constitutional law, any commercial transactions or traffic that cross state boundaries or that involve more than one state. The traditional concept that the free flow of commerce between states should not be impeded has been used to effect a wide range of regulations, both federal and state. A further extension of the established notion regarding the free flow of trade was introduced when Title II of the 1964 Civil Rights Act—dealing with discriminatory practices in public accommodations—was upheld by the Supreme Court. The court decided that a business, although operating within a single state, could affect interstate commerce with its restrictive laws and was, therefore, at odds with the federal legislation that proved to be enabling of the Constitution’s commerce clause...
https://www.britannica.com/money/interstate-commerce-United-States-law
______________________________________________
PROTECTING AMERICAN ENERGY FROM STATE OVERREACH
Executive Orders | April 8, 2025
... These State laws and policies weaken our national security and devastate Americans by driving up energy costs for families coast-to-coast...
These State laws and policies try to dictate interstate and international disputes over air, water, and natural resources...
These State laws and policies are fundamentally irreconcilable with my Administration’s objective to unleash American energy. They should not stand...
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/protecting-american-ener...
______________________________________________
Maine sues Trump administration for funding freeze over {state} policy on transgender student athletes
Donald Padgett | April 08 2025
https://www.advocate.com/politics/maine-sues-trump-administration
18margd
>17 margd: contd.
The President’s Executive Order on Elections, Explained
The illegal order risks preventing millions of eligible American citizens from voting.
Wendy Weiser | April 1, 2025
President Donald Trump last Tuesday issued an executive order that aims to illegally overhaul and take control of major parts of the nation’s election systems. He claimed extraordinary unilateral authority to regulate federal elections and usurp the powers of Congress, the states, and an independent bipartisan federal agency. This violates the Constitution and various federal laws. If implemented, the order could disenfranchise millions of American citizens, compromise the security of sensitive personal data, and disrupt election administration across the country.
Multiple lawsuits have been filed challenging the legality of this executive order on elections...
“Show-your-papers” requirement ... Only about half of Americans hold a passport, putting millions of eligible voters at risk of being blocked from voting. Research shows that younger Americans, Americans of color, and lower-income Americans are less likely to have ready access to documents like passports and birth certificates. And millions of married women who have changed their names may not have citizenship documents that match their current legal name...
Targeting military and overseas voters ... directs the Department of Defense to add to the voter registration form used by military and overseas voters (the Federal Post Card Application) the show-your-papers requirement, as well as an additional requirement to prove their eligibility in the state where they want to vote.
Voting system decertification ... purports to force the Election Assistance Commission to decertify all states’ voting systems within 180 days. It says that these systems could be recertified under new federal standards, but there is no voting system currently on the market that meets this standard, leaving states with no feasible way to comply. This could cost states billions of dollars, just in time for the 2026 election. States are already reeling from the administration’s previous decisions to roll back federal support for election security. What’s more, the order seeks to amend the federal guidelines to prohibit the use of certain kinds of features in voting machines that are commonly used in at least 21 states.
Giving Elon Musk’s DOGE access to all voter data ... purports to grant Elon Musk’s DOGE and the Department of Homeland Security full access to voter files and voter list maintenance records from every state. These files contain sensitive private information about American citizens — data that should not be available to nongovernmental actors and businesses... serious privacy risks ... Already, DOGE has shown an alarming level of error in its claims of federal program fraud.
Coercing changes to state mail and absentee ballot deadlines ... Continuing the years-long campaign of unfounded attacks on mail voting, the order would penalize any states that count timely cast mail ballots received after Election Day. (It purports to order the Election Assistance Commission to withhold funds.) The president does not have the authority to put conditions on funds appropriated by Congress, let alone those disbursed by the independent bipartisan commission. The order also directs the attorney general to take legal action against states that count timely cast ballots received after Election Day.
Currently, 18 states — including Nevada, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia — count ballots that arrive after Election Day as long as they are postmarked on or before Election Day. The president has no authority to change state election laws or practices.
Coercing cooperation from states ... tries to coerce states to share information with the Department of Justice and cooperate in the department’s efforts to prosecute election crimes.. However, states are not entitled to share and the Justice Department is not entitled to obtain some of the information contemplated by the order, such as confidential information about voters or ongoing state investigations. Additionally, several courts have held that the president can’t impose conditions on the disbursement of congressionally appropriated funds for law enforcement.
Is the executive order legal? No...
Is this executive order the same as the SAVE Act? ... significant overlap ... differs ... These differences aside, both the executive order and the SAVE Act could keep millions of American citizens from registering to vote.
The SAVE Act is deeply unpopular, battered by reports on its impact on eligible voters, including married women whose current legal names don’t match their citizenship documents. Now the president is trying to do an end run around Congress and the public by putting a version of the SAVE Act’s policies into place by fiat.
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/presidents-executive-ord...
------------------------------------------------
PRESERVING AND PROTECTING THE INTEGRITY OF AMERICAN ELECTIONS
Executive Orders | March 25, 2025
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/preserving-and-protectin...
The President’s Executive Order on Elections, Explained
The illegal order risks preventing millions of eligible American citizens from voting.
Wendy Weiser | April 1, 2025
President Donald Trump last Tuesday issued an executive order that aims to illegally overhaul and take control of major parts of the nation’s election systems. He claimed extraordinary unilateral authority to regulate federal elections and usurp the powers of Congress, the states, and an independent bipartisan federal agency. This violates the Constitution and various federal laws. If implemented, the order could disenfranchise millions of American citizens, compromise the security of sensitive personal data, and disrupt election administration across the country.
Multiple lawsuits have been filed challenging the legality of this executive order on elections...
“Show-your-papers” requirement ... Only about half of Americans hold a passport, putting millions of eligible voters at risk of being blocked from voting. Research shows that younger Americans, Americans of color, and lower-income Americans are less likely to have ready access to documents like passports and birth certificates. And millions of married women who have changed their names may not have citizenship documents that match their current legal name...
Targeting military and overseas voters ... directs the Department of Defense to add to the voter registration form used by military and overseas voters (the Federal Post Card Application) the show-your-papers requirement, as well as an additional requirement to prove their eligibility in the state where they want to vote.
Voting system decertification ... purports to force the Election Assistance Commission to decertify all states’ voting systems within 180 days. It says that these systems could be recertified under new federal standards, but there is no voting system currently on the market that meets this standard, leaving states with no feasible way to comply. This could cost states billions of dollars, just in time for the 2026 election. States are already reeling from the administration’s previous decisions to roll back federal support for election security. What’s more, the order seeks to amend the federal guidelines to prohibit the use of certain kinds of features in voting machines that are commonly used in at least 21 states.
Giving Elon Musk’s DOGE access to all voter data ... purports to grant Elon Musk’s DOGE and the Department of Homeland Security full access to voter files and voter list maintenance records from every state. These files contain sensitive private information about American citizens — data that should not be available to nongovernmental actors and businesses... serious privacy risks ... Already, DOGE has shown an alarming level of error in its claims of federal program fraud.
Coercing changes to state mail and absentee ballot deadlines ... Continuing the years-long campaign of unfounded attacks on mail voting, the order would penalize any states that count timely cast mail ballots received after Election Day. (It purports to order the Election Assistance Commission to withhold funds.) The president does not have the authority to put conditions on funds appropriated by Congress, let alone those disbursed by the independent bipartisan commission. The order also directs the attorney general to take legal action against states that count timely cast ballots received after Election Day.
Currently, 18 states — including Nevada, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia — count ballots that arrive after Election Day as long as they are postmarked on or before Election Day. The president has no authority to change state election laws or practices.
Coercing cooperation from states ... tries to coerce states to share information with the Department of Justice and cooperate in the department’s efforts to prosecute election crimes.. However, states are not entitled to share and the Justice Department is not entitled to obtain some of the information contemplated by the order, such as confidential information about voters or ongoing state investigations. Additionally, several courts have held that the president can’t impose conditions on the disbursement of congressionally appropriated funds for law enforcement.
Is the executive order legal? No...
Is this executive order the same as the SAVE Act? ... significant overlap ... differs ... These differences aside, both the executive order and the SAVE Act could keep millions of American citizens from registering to vote.
The SAVE Act is deeply unpopular, battered by reports on its impact on eligible voters, including married women whose current legal names don’t match their citizenship documents. Now the president is trying to do an end run around Congress and the public by putting a version of the SAVE Act’s policies into place by fiat.
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/presidents-executive-ord...
------------------------------------------------
PRESERVING AND PROTECTING THE INTEGRITY OF AMERICAN ELECTIONS
Executive Orders | March 25, 2025
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/preserving-and-protectin...
19modalursine
On the campaign trail in 2024, Agent Orange's pitch, or one of them, was "Vote me in now, one more time, and you won't have to bother voting ever again."
He's in a race to complete his autocratic capture before midterm elections can weaken his hold, or the 2028 elections threaten to reverse the coup.
Barring dramatic political reversals, he surely will run, or try to, for a third term.
He's in a race to complete his autocratic capture before midterm elections can weaken his hold, or the 2028 elections threaten to reverse the coup.
Barring dramatic political reversals, he surely will run, or try to, for a third term.
20TheToadRevoltof84
>16 margd:
Trump Order Would Force the ACLU to Put Its Money Where Its Mouth Is on Lawfare
https://www.dailysignal.com/2025/04/09/this-long-neglected-rule-could-be-judicia...
It’s called the Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65(c). Here’s what it says:
The court may issue a preliminary injunction or a temporary restraining order only if the movant that is, petitioner gives security in an amount that the court considers proper to pay the costs and damages sustained by any party found to have been wrongfully enjoined or restrained. The United States, its officers, and its agencies are not required to give security.
It's brilliant! The slimey weasels would have to actually care, instead of pretending. Read this, you see, it's amazing how a dysfunctional population can be so easily lied to when they give their power away.
Trump Order Would Force the ACLU to Put Its Money Where Its Mouth Is on Lawfare
https://www.dailysignal.com/2025/04/09/this-long-neglected-rule-could-be-judicia...
It’s called the Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65(c). Here’s what it says:
The court may issue a preliminary injunction or a temporary restraining order only if the movant that is, petitioner gives security in an amount that the court considers proper to pay the costs and damages sustained by any party found to have been wrongfully enjoined or restrained. The United States, its officers, and its agencies are not required to give security.
It's brilliant! The slimey weasels would have to actually care, instead of pretending. Read this, you see, it's amazing how a dysfunctional population can be so easily lied to when they give their power away.
21TheToadRevoltof84
>19 modalursine:
LGBTQAnon?
LGBTQAnon?
22John5918
Rightwing populists will keep winning until we grasp this truth about human nature (Guardian)
Economic inequality breeds resentment and a desire to get even. That’s what fuels support for even incompetent regimes...
23margd
>22 John5918: Skewed perception of one's wealth relative to others is also a factor. Social media, etc.
(We are moving into a condo in a six-floor building, and I think I'm seeing "penthouse" mentality in a few folks who live on the 6th floor, and mention "penthouse" repeatedly in their self-introductions. Interesting. The driving side of keeping up with the Jones's? A reason people spend rather than save for rainy day? Must be a feature of our social species.)
(We are moving into a condo in a six-floor building, and I think I'm seeing "penthouse" mentality in a few folks who live on the 6th floor, and mention "penthouse" repeatedly in their self-introductions. Interesting. The driving side of keeping up with the Jones's? A reason people spend rather than save for rainy day? Must be a feature of our social species.)
24margd
GIFT ARTICLE
The Constitutional Crisis Is Here
Adam Serwer | 14 April 2025
Between the path of outright defiance of the Supreme Court and following its order to “facilitate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from El Salvador’s infamous Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT), the Trump administration has chosen a third way: pretending it is complying while refusing to do so.
... To state the obvious, if the evidence against these men {sent to El Salvador prison}were ironclad, the Trump administration would not need to violate the Constitution to put them in prison. The reason it is deporting people to an overseas Gulag is because it wants to look like it is being tough on criminals without having to investigate whether the people it is being tough on have committed any crimes.
The Trump administration is defying a Supreme Court order to retrieve a man it marooned in a Gulag abroad, while pretending to comply with it. What it could do to him, it could do to anyone. More significantly, if the Trump administration can defy court orders with impunity, and Congress is unwilling to act, there is no reason for it to respect the constitutional rights of American citizens either. The Roberts Court will now have to decide whether to side with the Constitution or with a lawless president asserting the power to disappear people at will. This is not a power that any person, much less an American president, is meant to have.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/04/bukele-trump-court-order/68...
The Constitutional Crisis Is Here
Adam Serwer | 14 April 2025
Between the path of outright defiance of the Supreme Court and following its order to “facilitate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from El Salvador’s infamous Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT), the Trump administration has chosen a third way: pretending it is complying while refusing to do so.
... To state the obvious, if the evidence against these men {sent to El Salvador prison}were ironclad, the Trump administration would not need to violate the Constitution to put them in prison. The reason it is deporting people to an overseas Gulag is because it wants to look like it is being tough on criminals without having to investigate whether the people it is being tough on have committed any crimes.
The Trump administration is defying a Supreme Court order to retrieve a man it marooned in a Gulag abroad, while pretending to comply with it. What it could do to him, it could do to anyone. More significantly, if the Trump administration can defy court orders with impunity, and Congress is unwilling to act, there is no reason for it to respect the constitutional rights of American citizens either. The Roberts Court will now have to decide whether to side with the Constitution or with a lawless president asserting the power to disappear people at will. This is not a power that any person, much less an American president, is meant to have.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/04/bukele-trump-court-order/68...
25margd
>24 margd: contd.
bloomberg: ~90% of deported migrants to el salvador had no criminal record
{Chart} https://bsky.app/profile/ianbremmer.com/post/3lmsbdzexl22o
- ian bremmer @ianbremmer.com | April 14, 2025 at 3:12 PM {bsky.app}
president of @eurasiagroup.net and @gzeromedia.com. political scientist, author. if you're not following some people you dislike, you're doing it wrong. i'm happy to help.
bloomberg: ~90% of deported migrants to el salvador had no criminal record
{Chart} https://bsky.app/profile/ianbremmer.com/post/3lmsbdzexl22o
- ian bremmer @ianbremmer.com | April 14, 2025 at 3:12 PM {bsky.app}
president of @eurasiagroup.net and @gzeromedia.com. political scientist, author. if you're not following some people you dislike, you're doing it wrong. i'm happy to help.
26Molly3028
Unfortunately, the America we lived in at 11:59 a.m. on 1-20-25 is now at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean right next to the Titanic.
27margd
Though not a fed employee, I worked closely. Even with civil service protection, vested interests had way of making civil servants, who were just doing their jobs according to principles, laws, and agreements, miserable. With this shift in Schedule F, they can press for 50,000-200,000, in addition to presidential appointees who never had that protection, to be fired.
(Elsewhere, Trump is petitioning courts for authority to fire previously protected boards: think Jerome Powell who as chair of the Federal Reserve Board is tasked with containing inflation and protecting employment -- not protecting Trump from fallout of poorly conceived tariffs.)
Trump administration estimates 50,000 federal employees will lose civil service protections
Drew Friedman | April 18, 2025
Some experts warned that a new “Policy/Career” classification will create a chilling effect on the federal workforce and lead to incompetence and corruption.
Approximately 50,000 career federal employees are on track to see their civil service protections removed, as the Trump administration pushes forward with converting workers in government policy roles to an “at-will” employment status.
A forthcoming proposed rule from Office of Personnel Management (OPM) will amend civil service regulations to allow career federal employees to be converted to a new “Schedule Policy/Career” classification. Employees moved into the new classification will be moved outside of merit system principles, making it possible for agencies to easily and quickly fire them.
“If these government workers refuse to advance the policy interests of the President, or are engaging in corrupt behavior, they should no longer have a job,” Trump wrote Friday in a social media post. “This is common sense, and will allow the federal government to finally be ‘run like a business.’”
AD
OPM’s proposed rule is scheduled to be published to the Federal Register on Wednesday, but the regulations will not officially convert any federal positions. Instead, the Trump administration said the conversions will take place through an executive order that will come after the finalization of OPM’s rule.
OPM estimated that 50,000 federal employees would be converted into Schedule Policy/Career, a number on the lower end of previous estimates. Documents from Trump’s first term showed that around 200,000 career federal positions could have their job protections stripped...
https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2025/04/trump-administration-estimates-...
(Elsewhere, Trump is petitioning courts for authority to fire previously protected boards: think Jerome Powell who as chair of the Federal Reserve Board is tasked with containing inflation and protecting employment -- not protecting Trump from fallout of poorly conceived tariffs.)
Trump administration estimates 50,000 federal employees will lose civil service protections
Drew Friedman | April 18, 2025
Some experts warned that a new “Policy/Career” classification will create a chilling effect on the federal workforce and lead to incompetence and corruption.
Approximately 50,000 career federal employees are on track to see their civil service protections removed, as the Trump administration pushes forward with converting workers in government policy roles to an “at-will” employment status.
A forthcoming proposed rule from Office of Personnel Management (OPM) will amend civil service regulations to allow career federal employees to be converted to a new “Schedule Policy/Career” classification. Employees moved into the new classification will be moved outside of merit system principles, making it possible for agencies to easily and quickly fire them.
“If these government workers refuse to advance the policy interests of the President, or are engaging in corrupt behavior, they should no longer have a job,” Trump wrote Friday in a social media post. “This is common sense, and will allow the federal government to finally be ‘run like a business.’”
AD
OPM’s proposed rule is scheduled to be published to the Federal Register on Wednesday, but the regulations will not officially convert any federal positions. Instead, the Trump administration said the conversions will take place through an executive order that will come after the finalization of OPM’s rule.
OPM estimated that 50,000 federal employees would be converted into Schedule Policy/Career, a number on the lower end of previous estimates. Documents from Trump’s first term showed that around 200,000 career federal positions could have their job protections stripped...
https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2025/04/trump-administration-estimates-...
282wonderY
After being sued by the ACLU, the Border Patrol said it will retrain hundreds of California agents on how to comply with the Constitution.
https://calmatters.org/justice/2025/04/border-patrol-to-retrain-hundreds-of-cali...
https://calmatters.org/justice/2025/04/border-patrol-to-retrain-hundreds-of-cali...
29margd
Trump’s Road to Constitutional Perdition
Corbin K. Barthold | Apr 22, 2025
A grim mix of nihilism, glee, and malice as the administration clashes with the courts.
... Our greatest president {Lincoln} gave his life to end the fettered bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil.
Our current president is no emancipator. Indeed, history will count him among the traffickers. With disturbing zeal, he seeks to consign men to a foreign dungeon. The possibility of their innocence seems beyond him. He dispatches them without a flicker of due process. He invokes the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a law never used—that cannot be used—in peacetime. A law that can only be applied to citizens of nations attacking the United States. But the president has invoked it against alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang. The leaps in logic are vast, but the president carries on.
This is what brought the judge and the lawyers together. The last time, it was a Saturday. The ACLU had scrambled into court to stop the departure of two planeloads of men to El Salvador. So sudden was the hearing that Judge James Boasberg, of the federal district court in Washington, D.C., appeared on Zoom without his robe. He grasped the enormity of the government’s action, and ordered the planes turned around. The government ignored him. Hours later, Nayib Bukele, the autocrat of El Salvador, shared footage of the men being hauled into his infamous CECOT prison.
This time, it was a Friday evening. Boasberg’s first, flouted order had been reviewed—and vacated—by the Supreme Court. The Court had not met the moment. It had, however, said that men may not be removed without “notice and an opportunity to challenge their removal.” Now the administration was ignoring this order, too.
According to the ACLU’s lawyer, men were being rounded up and transferred to a detention center in north Texas. That location was, it seemed, no accident. A judge in south Texas had already enjoined the removal of detainees from a center in his district. The government was moving men to a spot beyond his reach.
At the new facility, immigration officers were handing out notices. In English. The notices asserted that their recipients had been deemed members of Tren de Aragua and would be removed imminently. “If you desire to make a phone call, you will be permitted to do so,” they read. Not a word about judicial review. Not a whisper about habeas corpus.
Some men were already on buses headed for the airport. The goal was (once again) to spirit people away before a court could intervene. And once removed, the government would argue that no court even has the power to intervene. Judge Boasberg had before him nothing less than a plot, by the American government, to disappear people in the style of an authoritarian regime.
Lincoln would have seen the allegory. The administration sought to complete this sordid operation on Good Friday—the time, the Gospels say, when the sun’s light failed and darkness covered the land.
The ACLU had asked the government, by email, whether it was distributing the notices. The government replied that it had not given notices to the two men the ACLU was representing in a suit in north Texas. It refused to say anything about the others.
The New York Times describes a scene of panic and chaos at the detention center ...
Court hearings are never quite as tense as the movies might suggest. Except this one was. The government said that no one would be removed on Friday, but that it reserved the right to remove people on Saturday (meaning, it seemed, any moment after midnight). In the silence that followed, time felt suspended.
The notices were very troubling, Boasberg said. They likely did not comply with the Supreme Court’s order. But he believed the justices had tied his hands. The ACLU had also filed an emergency motion in north Texas, and that petition had raced up to the high court. Boasberg said the matter now rested there.
The evening dragged on. No word from the Supreme Court. But the gears, they turned. Late on Good Friday, as Christ was laid down, the justices grappled with the fate of the men at the Bluebonnet Detention Facility in Anson, Texas. Dark was the night, cold was the ground.
AT ABOUT 1 A.M. SATURDAY, the Court spoke: None of the men shall be removed, pending further notice. As Justice Alito observed in a dissent issued a day later, this order is extraordinary, and not just for its time of release. The Court did not wait for a substantive ruling from the trial or appellate courts. It acted without input from the government. And it did not identify any authority to grant classwide relief under the circumstances. ...
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-constitutional-perdition-el-salvador-bukele-r...
Corbin K. Barthold | Apr 22, 2025
A grim mix of nihilism, glee, and malice as the administration clashes with the courts.
... Our greatest president {Lincoln} gave his life to end the fettered bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil.
Our current president is no emancipator. Indeed, history will count him among the traffickers. With disturbing zeal, he seeks to consign men to a foreign dungeon. The possibility of their innocence seems beyond him. He dispatches them without a flicker of due process. He invokes the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a law never used—that cannot be used—in peacetime. A law that can only be applied to citizens of nations attacking the United States. But the president has invoked it against alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang. The leaps in logic are vast, but the president carries on.
This is what brought the judge and the lawyers together. The last time, it was a Saturday. The ACLU had scrambled into court to stop the departure of two planeloads of men to El Salvador. So sudden was the hearing that Judge James Boasberg, of the federal district court in Washington, D.C., appeared on Zoom without his robe. He grasped the enormity of the government’s action, and ordered the planes turned around. The government ignored him. Hours later, Nayib Bukele, the autocrat of El Salvador, shared footage of the men being hauled into his infamous CECOT prison.
This time, it was a Friday evening. Boasberg’s first, flouted order had been reviewed—and vacated—by the Supreme Court. The Court had not met the moment. It had, however, said that men may not be removed without “notice and an opportunity to challenge their removal.” Now the administration was ignoring this order, too.
According to the ACLU’s lawyer, men were being rounded up and transferred to a detention center in north Texas. That location was, it seemed, no accident. A judge in south Texas had already enjoined the removal of detainees from a center in his district. The government was moving men to a spot beyond his reach.
At the new facility, immigration officers were handing out notices. In English. The notices asserted that their recipients had been deemed members of Tren de Aragua and would be removed imminently. “If you desire to make a phone call, you will be permitted to do so,” they read. Not a word about judicial review. Not a whisper about habeas corpus.
Some men were already on buses headed for the airport. The goal was (once again) to spirit people away before a court could intervene. And once removed, the government would argue that no court even has the power to intervene. Judge Boasberg had before him nothing less than a plot, by the American government, to disappear people in the style of an authoritarian regime.
Lincoln would have seen the allegory. The administration sought to complete this sordid operation on Good Friday—the time, the Gospels say, when the sun’s light failed and darkness covered the land.
The ACLU had asked the government, by email, whether it was distributing the notices. The government replied that it had not given notices to the two men the ACLU was representing in a suit in north Texas. It refused to say anything about the others.
The New York Times describes a scene of panic and chaos at the detention center ...
Court hearings are never quite as tense as the movies might suggest. Except this one was. The government said that no one would be removed on Friday, but that it reserved the right to remove people on Saturday (meaning, it seemed, any moment after midnight). In the silence that followed, time felt suspended.
The notices were very troubling, Boasberg said. They likely did not comply with the Supreme Court’s order. But he believed the justices had tied his hands. The ACLU had also filed an emergency motion in north Texas, and that petition had raced up to the high court. Boasberg said the matter now rested there.
The evening dragged on. No word from the Supreme Court. But the gears, they turned. Late on Good Friday, as Christ was laid down, the justices grappled with the fate of the men at the Bluebonnet Detention Facility in Anson, Texas. Dark was the night, cold was the ground.
AT ABOUT 1 A.M. SATURDAY, the Court spoke: None of the men shall be removed, pending further notice. As Justice Alito observed in a dissent issued a day later, this order is extraordinary, and not just for its time of release. The Court did not wait for a substantive ruling from the trial or appellate courts. It acted without input from the government. And it did not identify any authority to grant classwide relief under the circumstances. ...
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-constitutional-perdition-el-salvador-bukele-r...
30Cardboard_killer
“Ignore the Supreme Court. Arrest anyone who tries to enforce this ruling,” pundit Jesse Kelly declared Saturday. “Dissolve the Supreme Court entirely if they push. You can deport foreigners or you don’t have a country anymore. There are no good choices now.”
The Federalist co-founder Sean Davis contended, “When we’re done deporting illegals, it’s time to start deporting rogue judges.”
Self-described political scientist Josiah Lippincott, “I think that ruling is r****ded. . . . The Supreme Court is not the final arbiter on the meaning of the law." "The Supreme Court needs to be abolished,” Lippincott added in another post.
The Federalist co-founder Sean Davis contended, “When we’re done deporting illegals, it’s time to start deporting rogue judges.”
Self-described political scientist Josiah Lippincott, “I think that ruling is r****ded. . . . The Supreme Court is not the final arbiter on the meaning of the law." "The Supreme Court needs to be abolished,” Lippincott added in another post.
31margd
To avoid court directives on deportations, Trump Administration moved on weekends, jailed people away from sympathetic courts, and below, had Defense Dept (not listed by court) actually do the deportation (!):
Ryan Goodman @rgoodlaw.bsky.social | April 23, 2025 at 8:30 PM: {bsky.com}
Co-editor-in-chief at Just Security (bsky.app/profile/just...). Chaired Professor at NYU Law. Former Chaired Professor at Harvard Law. Former Special Counsel Department of Defense.
I just wrote: "Switching from ICE to DoD Custody: An Alarming Violation of Court Order on Deportations to El Salvador"
Astonishing.
Read ICE official's affidavit. ICE had the detainees in their custody before turning them over to DOD for transfer to torture in El Salvador. AFTER court issued TRO {Temporary Restraining Order}:
Switching from ICE to DoD Custody: An Alarming Violation of Court Order on Deportations to El Salvador
Ryan Goodman | Apr 23, 2025
https://justsecurity.substack.com/p/switching-from-ice-to-dod-custody
Earlier today, I discussed one of the “sleeper” immigration cases that had largely flown below the radar: {https://justsecurity.substack.com/p/april-23-stay-in-the-know-with-ryan}
Ryan Goodman @rgoodlaw.bsky.social | April 23, 2025 at 8:30 PM: {bsky.com}
Co-editor-in-chief at Just Security (bsky.app/profile/just...). Chaired Professor at NYU Law. Former Chaired Professor at Harvard Law. Former Special Counsel Department of Defense.
I just wrote: "Switching from ICE to DoD Custody: An Alarming Violation of Court Order on Deportations to El Salvador"
Astonishing.
Read ICE official's affidavit. ICE had the detainees in their custody before turning them over to DOD for transfer to torture in El Salvador. AFTER court issued TRO {Temporary Restraining Order}:
Switching from ICE to DoD Custody: An Alarming Violation of Court Order on Deportations to El Salvador
Ryan Goodman | Apr 23, 2025
https://justsecurity.substack.com/p/switching-from-ice-to-dod-custody
Earlier today, I discussed one of the “sleeper” immigration cases that had largely flown below the radar: {https://justsecurity.substack.com/p/april-23-stay-in-the-know-with-ryan}
32margd
Umm, the 5th and 14th Amendments directs federal and state government that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law. Constitution "trumps" Alien Enemies Act.
US Agents Cleared for Warrantless Arrest of Alleged Gang Members
Alicia A. Caldwell | April 25, 2025
Federal law enforcement agents can arrest Venezuelan nationals in the US suspected of belonging to the Tren de Aragua gang without judicial or administrative warrants, according to a directive from Attorney General Pam Bondi.
The memo, dated March 14 and obtained through a public records request by the transparency group Property of the People, outlines procedures under the Alien Enemies Act, an 18th-century law that President Donald Trump invoked last month to fast-track deportations of some Venezuelan migrants.
The directive instructs agents on how to identify suspected gang members and confirms they may take individuals into custody without first securing a warrant.
However, it advises agents to consult federal prosecutors when possible to seek criminal search or arrest warrants for related offenses, such as violations like failing to carry immigration documents or register...
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-25/us-agents-cleared-for-warrant...
US Agents Cleared for Warrantless Arrest of Alleged Gang Members
Alicia A. Caldwell | April 25, 2025
Federal law enforcement agents can arrest Venezuelan nationals in the US suspected of belonging to the Tren de Aragua gang without judicial or administrative warrants, according to a directive from Attorney General Pam Bondi.
The memo, dated March 14 and obtained through a public records request by the transparency group Property of the People, outlines procedures under the Alien Enemies Act, an 18th-century law that President Donald Trump invoked last month to fast-track deportations of some Venezuelan migrants.
The directive instructs agents on how to identify suspected gang members and confirms they may take individuals into custody without first securing a warrant.
However, it advises agents to consult federal prosecutors when possible to seek criminal search or arrest warrants for related offenses, such as violations like failing to carry immigration documents or register...
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-25/us-agents-cleared-for-warrant...
33margd
19 states sue Trump administration over push to end diversity programs in public schools
Associated Press | April 25, 2025
Nineteen states that refused to comply with a Trump administration directive aimed at eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs in public schools went a step further Friday, filing a federal lawsuit challenging what they consider an illegal threat to cut federal funding.
The lawsuit filed in Massachusetts by Democratic attorneys general seeks to block the Department of Education from withholding money based on its April 3 directive ordering states to certify their compliance with civil rights laws, including the rejection of what the federal government calls “illegal DEI practices.” States were also told to gather signatures from local school systems certifying their compliance by April 24.
The U.S. Department of Education building stands in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Monday, Aug. 17, 2020.
Instead, the plaintiffs informed the government that they stand by their prior certifications of compliance with the law but refuse to abandon policies that promote equal access to education ...
https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/25/politics/states-sue-trump-administration-diversit...
Associated Press | April 25, 2025
Nineteen states that refused to comply with a Trump administration directive aimed at eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs in public schools went a step further Friday, filing a federal lawsuit challenging what they consider an illegal threat to cut federal funding.
The lawsuit filed in Massachusetts by Democratic attorneys general seeks to block the Department of Education from withholding money based on its April 3 directive ordering states to certify their compliance with civil rights laws, including the rejection of what the federal government calls “illegal DEI practices.” States were also told to gather signatures from local school systems certifying their compliance by April 24.
The U.S. Department of Education building stands in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Monday, Aug. 17, 2020.
Instead, the plaintiffs informed the government that they stand by their prior certifications of compliance with the law but refuse to abandon policies that promote equal access to education ...
https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/25/politics/states-sue-trump-administration-diversit...
34margd
Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social | April 26, 2025 at 6:34 PM:
Political theorist studying democracy, ethics, & institutions. Author of Democracy for Busy People...
The existence of such a database is Very Illegal
Such a nightmare database could only be constructed by disobeying laws and administrative procedures for siloing government data off into the agencies that need it for their specific congressionally-authorized activities.
---------------------------------------------------
Wolfie Christl @wchr.bsky.social | April 26, 2025 at 3:11 PM:
Public-interest researcher at Cracked Labs | Research fellow at Citizen Lab | Vienna, Austria | Tech and society. Tracking, surveillance, data economy, platform power, algorithmic decisions, datafication of work.
CNN reports that the oligarch is building a "master database to speed-up immigration enforcement and deportations by combining sensitive data from across the federal government" with the help of Palantir, to create "targeting lists".
That all sounds very very bad.
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/25/politics/doge-building-master-database-immigr...
"DOGE is knitting together immigration databases from across DHS and uploading data from outside agencies including the Social Security Administration (SSA), as well as voting records ... likely ... hosted on Palantir Foundry"
Previous reporting by Wired:
https://www.wired.com/story/doge-collecting-immigrant-data-surveil-track/
"ICE’s Immigration Lifecycle Operating System (ImmigrationOS) ... streamlined end to end immigration lifecycle from identification to removal, with increased efficiency in deportation logistics, minimizing time and resource expenditure"
ICE contract awarded on Apr 11, 2025:
https://sam.gov/opp/f71acee6010c423db4902446a59a690c/view
I'm usually not someone who calls out individuals (except for the most powerful), but at this point it really hurts to see people whose work I used to appreciate still serving on Palantir's so-called "Council of Advisors on Privacy and Civil Liberties" for $. Resign!
www.palantir.com/pcl/advisors/
"Everyone is converting to Palantir"
https://bsky.app/profile/wchr.bsky.social/post/3lnqity475s2q
_________________________________________
Google (AI Overview): "Social Security number creation of security concerns"
The Social Security number (SSN) was created in 1936 to track earnings and calculate retirement benefits, but its widespread use as an identifier has raised significant security concerns. Identity theft and fraud are major risks associated with the SSN, as it can be used to open accounts, obtain credit, and access government benefits in someone else's name. Additionally, the SSN is often used as a patient identifier in healthcare, increasing the risk of sensitive medical information being compromised.
Security Risks and Concerns:
Identity Theft:
SSNs are valuable to criminals because they can be used to open new accounts, apply for loans and credit cards, get jobs, and access government benefits in someone else's name.
Data Breaches:
Numerous data breaches have exposed millions of SSNs, making them a prime target for identity thieves.
Health Data:
The use of SSNs in healthcare records, while intended to simplify data management, also exposes sensitive health information to potential breaches and misuse.
Government Surveillance:
Concerns have been raised about the potential for the government to use the SSN as a national identifier to track and control citizens' activities.
Death Master File:
The Social Security Administration's Death Master File, which is available for purchase, raises concerns about the potential for SSNs to be used to track and identify deceased individuals.
Scams:
Individuals may be tricked into revealing their SSN online or by phone through phishing scams.
Mitigation Strategies:
Protecting SSNs: Individuals should be cautious about sharing their SSNs and consider using alternate identifiers when possible.
Data Security: Organizations should implement robust security measures to protect SSNs and consider using alternate identification systems.
Legal Protections: Legislation and regulations are needed to limit the use of SSNs, criminalize their sale, and provide administrative penalties for misuse.
Awareness and Education: Individuals need to be educated about the risks of SSN theft and how to protect themselves.
Monitoring: Individuals can create a my Social Security account to monitor their records for any suspicious activity and check their Social Security Statement to verify the accuracy of their earnings record.
Reporting: Individuals should report any suspected identity theft or SSN misuse to the Social Security Administration or the IdentityTheft.gov website.
Political theorist studying democracy, ethics, & institutions. Author of Democracy for Busy People...
The existence of such a database is Very Illegal
Such a nightmare database could only be constructed by disobeying laws and administrative procedures for siloing government data off into the agencies that need it for their specific congressionally-authorized activities.
---------------------------------------------------
Wolfie Christl @wchr.bsky.social | April 26, 2025 at 3:11 PM:
Public-interest researcher at Cracked Labs | Research fellow at Citizen Lab | Vienna, Austria | Tech and society. Tracking, surveillance, data economy, platform power, algorithmic decisions, datafication of work.
CNN reports that the oligarch is building a "master database to speed-up immigration enforcement and deportations by combining sensitive data from across the federal government" with the help of Palantir, to create "targeting lists".
That all sounds very very bad.
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/25/politics/doge-building-master-database-immigr...
"DOGE is knitting together immigration databases from across DHS and uploading data from outside agencies including the Social Security Administration (SSA), as well as voting records ... likely ... hosted on Palantir Foundry"
Previous reporting by Wired:
https://www.wired.com/story/doge-collecting-immigrant-data-surveil-track/
"ICE’s Immigration Lifecycle Operating System (ImmigrationOS) ... streamlined end to end immigration lifecycle from identification to removal, with increased efficiency in deportation logistics, minimizing time and resource expenditure"
ICE contract awarded on Apr 11, 2025:
https://sam.gov/opp/f71acee6010c423db4902446a59a690c/view
I'm usually not someone who calls out individuals (except for the most powerful), but at this point it really hurts to see people whose work I used to appreciate still serving on Palantir's so-called "Council of Advisors on Privacy and Civil Liberties" for $. Resign!
www.palantir.com/pcl/advisors/
"Everyone is converting to Palantir"
https://bsky.app/profile/wchr.bsky.social/post/3lnqity475s2q
_________________________________________
Google (AI Overview): "Social Security number creation of security concerns"
The Social Security number (SSN) was created in 1936 to track earnings and calculate retirement benefits, but its widespread use as an identifier has raised significant security concerns. Identity theft and fraud are major risks associated with the SSN, as it can be used to open accounts, obtain credit, and access government benefits in someone else's name. Additionally, the SSN is often used as a patient identifier in healthcare, increasing the risk of sensitive medical information being compromised.
Security Risks and Concerns:
Identity Theft:
SSNs are valuable to criminals because they can be used to open new accounts, apply for loans and credit cards, get jobs, and access government benefits in someone else's name.
Data Breaches:
Numerous data breaches have exposed millions of SSNs, making them a prime target for identity thieves.
Health Data:
The use of SSNs in healthcare records, while intended to simplify data management, also exposes sensitive health information to potential breaches and misuse.
Government Surveillance:
Concerns have been raised about the potential for the government to use the SSN as a national identifier to track and control citizens' activities.
Death Master File:
The Social Security Administration's Death Master File, which is available for purchase, raises concerns about the potential for SSNs to be used to track and identify deceased individuals.
Scams:
Individuals may be tricked into revealing their SSN online or by phone through phishing scams.
Mitigation Strategies:
Protecting SSNs: Individuals should be cautious about sharing their SSNs and consider using alternate identifiers when possible.
Data Security: Organizations should implement robust security measures to protect SSNs and consider using alternate identification systems.
Legal Protections: Legislation and regulations are needed to limit the use of SSNs, criminalize their sale, and provide administrative penalties for misuse.
Awareness and Education: Individuals need to be educated about the risks of SSN theft and how to protect themselves.
Monitoring: Individuals can create a my Social Security account to monitor their records for any suspicious activity and check their Social Security Statement to verify the accuracy of their earnings record.
Reporting: Individuals should report any suspected identity theft or SSN misuse to the Social Security Administration or the IdentityTheft.gov website.
35John5918
Trump’s first 100 days supercharged a global ‘freefall of rights’, says Amnesty (Guardian)
The first 100 days of Donald Trump’s presidency have “supercharged” a global rollback of human rights, pushing the world towards an authoritarian era defined by impunity and unchecked corporate power, Amnesty International warns today. In its annual report on the state of human rights in 150 countries, the organisation said the immediate ramifications of Trump’s second term had been the undermining of decades of progress and the emboldening of authoritarian leaders. Describing a “freefall” in human rights, the report said growing inaction over the climate crisis, violent crackdowns on dissent and a mounting backlash against the rights of migrants, refugees, women, girls and LGBTQ+ people could be traced to the so-called Trump effect. Amnesty warned the situation would deteriorate further this year as Trump continued to dismantle the rules-based world order that Washington helped to build from the devastation of the second world war. Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s chief executive, described the US president’s swift and deliberate targeting of international institutions designed to make the world safer and fairer as “terrifying”. “You look forward to the end of this decade and wonder whether the basic frameworks and underpinnings of not just human rights but international law will still be standing. You probably haven’t been able to say that since 1935,” he said...
36margd
Judge restricts Border Patrol in California: ‘You just can’t walk up to people with brown skin’
Sergio Olmos and Wendy Fry | April 29, 2025
... The {federal court} ruling came in response to an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit filed after the El Centro Border Patrol traveled to Kern County to conduct a three-day sweep in January, detaining day laborers, farm workers and others in a Home Depot parking lot, outside a convenience store and along a highway between orchards.
The ACLU filed suit on behalf of United Farm Workers, arguing that the stops violated the Fourth Amendment.* The judge has not decided on the totality of the case, but on Tuesday granted the ACLU’s motion to stop the Border Patrol from conducting similar operations while the case moved through the courts.
“I think that it’s pretty clear that half of a century of really established law is being upheld. It’s unfortunate that this is a cause for celebration. It’s not legal to snatch people off the street for looking like farm workers or day laborers,” said Elizabeth Strater, vice president of United Farm Workers
... California Attorney General Rob Bonta agreed. ... “You can’t just indiscriminately stop people and search them without any appropriate reasonable suspicion or probable cause or without a warrant ... So, it sounds like the judge had seen enough and wanted to issue an order. “ ...
https://calmatters.org/justice/2025/04/border-patrol-injunction/
-----------------------------------------
* The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution protects individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures. It requires warrants, which must be issued based on probable cause, to be obtained for searches and seizures. It ensures individuals are secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects {Google AI}
Sergio Olmos and Wendy Fry | April 29, 2025
... The {federal court} ruling came in response to an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit filed after the El Centro Border Patrol traveled to Kern County to conduct a three-day sweep in January, detaining day laborers, farm workers and others in a Home Depot parking lot, outside a convenience store and along a highway between orchards.
The ACLU filed suit on behalf of United Farm Workers, arguing that the stops violated the Fourth Amendment.* The judge has not decided on the totality of the case, but on Tuesday granted the ACLU’s motion to stop the Border Patrol from conducting similar operations while the case moved through the courts.
“I think that it’s pretty clear that half of a century of really established law is being upheld. It’s unfortunate that this is a cause for celebration. It’s not legal to snatch people off the street for looking like farm workers or day laborers,” said Elizabeth Strater, vice president of United Farm Workers
... California Attorney General Rob Bonta agreed. ... “You can’t just indiscriminately stop people and search them without any appropriate reasonable suspicion or probable cause or without a warrant ... So, it sounds like the judge had seen enough and wanted to issue an order. “ ...
https://calmatters.org/justice/2025/04/border-patrol-injunction/
-----------------------------------------
* The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution protects individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures. It requires warrants, which must be issued based on probable cause, to be obtained for searches and seizures. It ensures individuals are secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects {Google AI}
37margd
BREAKING:
Trump's Alien Enemies Act Proclamation is "unlawful," a federal judge in Texas ruled.
That judge was appointed by Trump. {UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS, BROWNSVILLE DIVISION, Fernando Rodriguez, Jr.
United States District Judge}
Ruling: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txsd.2000771/gov.uscourts.t...
{Excerpt} "For these reasons, the Court concludes that the President’s invocation of the AEA through the Proclamation exceeds the scope of the statute and, as a result, is unlawful. Respondents do not possess the lawful authority under the AEA, and based on the Proclamation, to detain Venezuelan aliens, transfer them within the United States, or remove them from the country."
https://bsky.app/profile/klasfeldreports.com/post/3lo4ncaj6ex2a
Background: https://www.allrisenews.com/p/aea-inquisition-medieval
- Adam Klasfeld @klasfeldreports.com | May 1, 2025 at 11:37 AM:
Editor in chief and co-founder of @www.allrisenews.com. Fearless journalism about the law, your rights, and your powers to effect change during the Trump era.
Trump's Alien Enemies Act Proclamation is "unlawful," a federal judge in Texas ruled.
That judge was appointed by Trump. {UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS, BROWNSVILLE DIVISION, Fernando Rodriguez, Jr.
United States District Judge}
Ruling: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txsd.2000771/gov.uscourts.t...
{Excerpt} "For these reasons, the Court concludes that the President’s invocation of the AEA through the Proclamation exceeds the scope of the statute and, as a result, is unlawful. Respondents do not possess the lawful authority under the AEA, and based on the Proclamation, to detain Venezuelan aliens, transfer them within the United States, or remove them from the country."
https://bsky.app/profile/klasfeldreports.com/post/3lo4ncaj6ex2a
Background: https://www.allrisenews.com/p/aea-inquisition-medieval
- Adam Klasfeld @klasfeldreports.com | May 1, 2025 at 11:37 AM:
Editor in chief and co-founder of @www.allrisenews.com. Fearless journalism about the law, your rights, and your powers to effect change during the Trump era.
382wonderY
>37 margd: Finally!! I’d been wondering where this claim stood.
I’ll have to read the ruling to see what that means concretely.
I’ll have to read the ruling to see what that means concretely.
39margd
>38 2wonderY: Judge was a Trump appointee. Trying to remember -- is this where HHS moved people so their cases would be heard by a judge sympathetic to the government?
40margd
The Metals Company applied to the U.S. for a deep-sea mining license
cover image
Elizabeth Claire Alberts | 30 Apr 2025
The Metals Company (TMC) has submitted its first application to commercially exploit seabed minerals in international waters, along with applications for two exploration licenses, under the U.S. regulatory authority.
The contentious move follows a recent executive order from the Trump administration that directed the U.S. government to fast-track deep-sea mining in an effort to secure supplies of critical minerals for the U.S.
Both TMC and the U.S. have faced international pushback over these plans, with both the U.N.-affiliated International Seabed Authority (ISA) and China criticizing them as potentially violating international law because only the ISA has the authority to permit mining in international waters.
While the U.S. regulator and TMC say they will manage environmental risks, critics say deep-sea mining could cause significant and potentially irreversible damage to marine ecosystems...
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/the-metals-company-applied-to-the-u-s-for-a-de...
cover image
Elizabeth Claire Alberts | 30 Apr 2025
The Metals Company (TMC) has submitted its first application to commercially exploit seabed minerals in international waters, along with applications for two exploration licenses, under the U.S. regulatory authority.
The contentious move follows a recent executive order from the Trump administration that directed the U.S. government to fast-track deep-sea mining in an effort to secure supplies of critical minerals for the U.S.
Both TMC and the U.S. have faced international pushback over these plans, with both the U.N.-affiliated International Seabed Authority (ISA) and China criticizing them as potentially violating international law because only the ISA has the authority to permit mining in international waters.
While the U.S. regulator and TMC say they will manage environmental risks, critics say deep-sea mining could cause significant and potentially irreversible damage to marine ecosystems...
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/the-metals-company-applied-to-the-u-s-for-a-de...
41margd
Philip Bump @pbump.com | May 6, 2025 at 8:28 AM: {bsky.app}
WaPo columnist
We should understand this for what it is: an effort to build public consent for the president to ignore the Supreme Court.
----------------------------------------------------
Justice Department investigating 2022 Abrego Garcia traffic stop: Sources
James Hill, Katherine Faulders, Alexander Mallin, and Luke Barr | May 6, 2025
... The inmate, Jose Ramon Hernandez-Reyes, 38, was the registered owner of a vehicle driven by Abrego Garcia when he was stopped by the Tennessee Highway Patrol in late 2022, according to the sources. Abrego Garcia was pulled over for speeding in a vehicle with eight passengers and told police they'd been working construction in Missouri.
Federal agents investigating the Tennessee incident appeared late last month at the Federal Correctional Institution in Talladega, Alabama, to question {convicted felon} Hernandez-Reyes, who had an attorney present and was granted limited immunity ...
Hernandez-Reyes told investigators that he previously operated a "taxi service" based in Baltimore. He claimed to have met Abrego Garcia around 2015 and claimed to have hired him on multiple occasions to transport undocumented migrants from Texas to various locations in the United States ... The frequency and time frame of the alleged trips was not immediately clear.
It's unclear whether prosecutors will ultimately gather enough evidence to bring charges against Abrego Garcia. The interview of Hernandez-Reyes, however, appears to be a new and aggressive step in the government's efforts to gather potentially incriminating information about Abrego Garcia's background -- even as it resists calls for him to be provided typical protections to respond to such accusations through the American legal system...
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/justice-department-investigating-2022-abrego-gar...
WaPo columnist
We should understand this for what it is: an effort to build public consent for the president to ignore the Supreme Court.
----------------------------------------------------
Justice Department investigating 2022 Abrego Garcia traffic stop: Sources
James Hill, Katherine Faulders, Alexander Mallin, and Luke Barr | May 6, 2025
... The inmate, Jose Ramon Hernandez-Reyes, 38, was the registered owner of a vehicle driven by Abrego Garcia when he was stopped by the Tennessee Highway Patrol in late 2022, according to the sources. Abrego Garcia was pulled over for speeding in a vehicle with eight passengers and told police they'd been working construction in Missouri.
Federal agents investigating the Tennessee incident appeared late last month at the Federal Correctional Institution in Talladega, Alabama, to question {convicted felon} Hernandez-Reyes, who had an attorney present and was granted limited immunity ...
Hernandez-Reyes told investigators that he previously operated a "taxi service" based in Baltimore. He claimed to have met Abrego Garcia around 2015 and claimed to have hired him on multiple occasions to transport undocumented migrants from Texas to various locations in the United States ... The frequency and time frame of the alleged trips was not immediately clear.
It's unclear whether prosecutors will ultimately gather enough evidence to bring charges against Abrego Garcia. The interview of Hernandez-Reyes, however, appears to be a new and aggressive step in the government's efforts to gather potentially incriminating information about Abrego Garcia's background -- even as it resists calls for him to be provided typical protections to respond to such accusations through the American legal system...
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/justice-department-investigating-2022-abrego-gar...
42margd
Miller threatens to suspend habeas unless Trump can defy judges
Either way, the rule of law loses.
Lisa Needham | May 13, 2025
... “The Constitution is clear, and that, of course, is the supreme law of the land, that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended at a time of invasion,” he said. “So I would say that’s an action we’re actively looking at.” {“A lot of it depends on whether the courts do the right thing or not.” } ...
... Immigrants challenging their removal don’t get trials ...They have limited rights under an expedited removal process created by Congress. But even that circumscribed process is too much for the White House. Hence Miller’s musings about how the administration is looking into suspending habeas, allowing them to deport people without even the meager protections they currently have. It would strip the courts of any power to order an immigrant’s release.
The Constitution allows habeas to be suspended only in “cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.” It has only been suspended four times....
... The administration can’t suspend habeas. Only Congress can. You can read thousands of words about this from Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who wrote a lengthy law review article on the topic before being appointed to the federal bench. ... super helpful...
https://www.publicnotice.co/p/stephen-miller-habeas-corpus-suspend-explained
Either way, the rule of law loses.
Lisa Needham | May 13, 2025
... “The Constitution is clear, and that, of course, is the supreme law of the land, that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended at a time of invasion,” he said. “So I would say that’s an action we’re actively looking at.” {“A lot of it depends on whether the courts do the right thing or not.” } ...
... Immigrants challenging their removal don’t get trials ...They have limited rights under an expedited removal process created by Congress. But even that circumscribed process is too much for the White House. Hence Miller’s musings about how the administration is looking into suspending habeas, allowing them to deport people without even the meager protections they currently have. It would strip the courts of any power to order an immigrant’s release.
The Constitution allows habeas to be suspended only in “cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.” It has only been suspended four times....
... The administration can’t suspend habeas. Only Congress can. You can read thousands of words about this from Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who wrote a lengthy law review article on the topic before being appointed to the federal bench. ... super helpful...
https://www.publicnotice.co/p/stephen-miller-habeas-corpus-suspend-explained
43margd
UNHCR: About statelessness
... a child born in a foreign country can risk becoming stateless if that country does not permit nationality based on birth alone and if the country of origin does not allow a parent to pass on nationality to children born abroad...
https://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/about-statelessness/
... a child born in a foreign country can risk becoming stateless if that country does not permit nationality based on birth alone and if the country of origin does not allow a parent to pass on nationality to children born abroad...
https://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/about-statelessness/
44margd
Donald Moynihan and Pamela Herd et al. 2025. Institutionalizing politicized science (Editorial). Science 8 May 2025, Vol 388, Issue 6748, p. 683
DOI: 10.1126/science.ady6128 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady6128
... “Schedule F” (now renamed Schedule Policy/Career) is shorthand for an executive order that is a sharp break with civil service merit principles, which assume that career employees should be retained on the basis of performance and protected against political coercion. The US is already unusual in the degree to which it reserves the top layers of organizational leadership for short-term political appointees. Schedule F will vastly expand the number of appointees, adding a proposed 50,000 from the current 4000. It does so by involuntarily reclassifying career civil servants as appointees, removing job protections, the basic constraint against political interference...
... Studies show that politicization of public services generally worsens public-sector outcomes. Public employees invest less in developing their expertise and become more likely to exit. Instability and lack of experience reduce organizational performance. Politicization increases the influence of more ideologically radical appointees relative to more moderate civil servants. Politicization also reduces accountability. Bureaucrats worried about being fired fail to share uncongenial information with their political bosses and become less likely to respond to congressional oversight. As politicization begets lower transparency and administrative capacity, it increases waste and inefficiency...
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady6128
DOI: 10.1126/science.ady6128 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady6128
... “Schedule F” (now renamed Schedule Policy/Career) is shorthand for an executive order that is a sharp break with civil service merit principles, which assume that career employees should be retained on the basis of performance and protected against political coercion. The US is already unusual in the degree to which it reserves the top layers of organizational leadership for short-term political appointees. Schedule F will vastly expand the number of appointees, adding a proposed 50,000 from the current 4000. It does so by involuntarily reclassifying career civil servants as appointees, removing job protections, the basic constraint against political interference...
... Studies show that politicization of public services generally worsens public-sector outcomes. Public employees invest less in developing their expertise and become more likely to exit. Instability and lack of experience reduce organizational performance. Politicization increases the influence of more ideologically radical appointees relative to more moderate civil servants. Politicization also reduces accountability. Bureaucrats worried about being fired fail to share uncongenial information with their political bosses and become less likely to respond to congressional oversight. As politicization begets lower transparency and administrative capacity, it increases waste and inefficiency...
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady6128
45margd
>44 margd: Comment period ends 23 May 2025:
https://www.regulations.gov/docket/OPM-2025-0004/document
------------------------------------------
Katrina Walsemann @katwalsemann.bsky.social | May 12, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Roger C. Lipitz Distinguished Chair in Health Policy & Professor at UMD School of Public Policy. Pop health & life course researcher. Studying education & dementia.
Schedule F is a direct threat to science, democracy, and public health. It would gut civil service protections and politicize federal agencies. Read the Science letter >44 margd:
—and then submit your comment (tinyurl.com/yk7ha67s). These comments matter. They HAVE to read and respond to them. This is something tangible we can all do to make our voices heard...
https://www.regulations.gov/docket/OPM-2025-0004/document
------------------------------------------
Katrina Walsemann @katwalsemann.bsky.social | May 12, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Roger C. Lipitz Distinguished Chair in Health Policy & Professor at UMD School of Public Policy. Pop health & life course researcher. Studying education & dementia.
Schedule F is a direct threat to science, democracy, and public health. It would gut civil service protections and politicize federal agencies. Read the Science letter >44 margd:
—and then submit your comment (tinyurl.com/yk7ha67s). These comments matter. They HAVE to read and respond to them. This is something tangible we can all do to make our voices heard...
46margd
>45 margd: Re political interference, I've seen a principled (R) political appointee fired for doing his job as required by treaty and statute. Civil servants have been posted or given less desirable assignments -- worst is to be left alone in one's office with a telephone that never rings. Vested interests who lunch with decision-makers already have enough ways of wreaking wrath on principled civil servants working on our behalf, IMHO. Beyond harassment on behalf of vested interests, they can also be removed for "folly of their own making".
47John5918
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has courage. Pope Francis had it too. Why are there so many cowards? (Guardian)
“Courage is seeking the truth and speaking it”... Courage among ordinary people is not in short supply. The doctors and humanitarian workers who rush to war zones and refugee camps to care for those who need it. Rümeysa Öztürk, the PhD student who was arrested in the US for voicing an opinion against the relentless bombing of Gaza. Israeli conscientious objectors and an increasing number of other refuseniks. The protesters in Tbilisi, Belgrade and Istanbul who have repeatedly faced down their governments’ attempts at repression. Examples of political courage from those in power, though? These feel less numerous. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has displayed it endlessly. French judges did too, when they upheld the rule of law – which in normal times would simply be doing their duty, but in our times meant facing death threats. Pope Francis pushed reforms of the Catholic church to make it more compassionate and inclusive, and didn’t veer from them. He didn’t “change strategy” when attendance failed to pick up, because he didn’t have a strategy – he was simply doing what was right. On the other hand, we’ve witnessed so many high-profile examples of political cowardice in recent months that I can only talk about them in broad categories... What is just? Who is acting with honour? With courage? When did we stop thinking it normal to consider such questions – and to demand those things from the people who lead us? To demand that they, well, lead?... When the primary metric becomes “success” in amassing something – money, followers, territory, votes – society loses its moral centre... Without an ability to think and speak in real moral language, we end up in a place where there is no more shame in hypocrisy, no dishonour in rapacious greed; where if something is true or false matters less than how many people believe it...
48margd
Hope Senate is up to close perusal of "big beautiful bill". Will post details when I can, but reportedly there is some incredible stuff in there, e.g., ~p 602 requires a bond be paid before filing lawsuit against administration, something like ~$5k per deported immigrant? e.g., stumbling blocks for ACA. Read up. Call your senators?
49John5918
Trump, Netanyahu and Khamenei – three angry old men who could get us all killed (Guardian)
Cartoon from The Guardian
Whether inept, driven by survival or corrupt, they are unfit to lead their countries, let alone make decisions that imperil the whole world...
Cartoon from The Guardian
50margd
Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social | June 19, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Founder, Rakkasan Tea Company • MSNBC columnist • Dallas Police Oversight Board • Former Obama guy • BJJ • Once a soldier
To be really clear: The reason members of Congress can't just walk right in is because of the guns. Armed DHS personnel won't allow entry. In other words, DHS is using armed force to *break* laws.
Democrats need to wrap their minds around that. Accept that the frog is boiled.
--------------------------------------------------
New York Times: ICE Imposes New Rules on Congressional Visits
Michael Gold | 19 June 2025
The Department of Homeland Security has imposed new limits on visits by members of Congress and their staff to immigration enforcement facilities, intensifying a conflict between federal immigration officials and Democratic lawmakers over the separation of powers.
Under federal law, members of Congress can make unannounced oversight visits to immigration facilities that “detain or otherwise house aliens.” Lawmakers are not required to provide “prior notice of the intent to enter a facility” to conduct oversight, though members of their staff must request a visit at least 24 hours in advance.
But in guidance released this month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement asks members of Congress to give at least 72 hours notice for a visit to its facilities. Asked about the policy, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, went even further, suggesting that federal officials would not be allowed entry unless they provided a week’s notice.
“A week is sufficient to ensure no intrusion on the president’s constitutional authority,” the spokeswoman, Tricia McLaughlin, said in a statement. She added that “any request to shorten that time must be approved” by the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem ...
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/19/us/politics/ice-congress.html
______________________________________________
The New York Times @nytimes.com | June 20, 2025 at 11:40 AM (bsky.app)
A once temporary holding area in Manhattan where ICE would hold a few dozen immigrants for a few hours at a time has become overcrowded, with some spending days there sleeping on the floor. Democrats' demands to access the area oversight purposes have been denied.
What’s Inside a 10th Floor ICE Office? New York Democrats Want to Know.
Nine members of Congress are accusing the federal authorities of blocking their right to examine conditions at what is supposed to be a temporary stop for detained immigrants ...
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/20/nyregion/ny-democrats-access-26-federal-plaza...
Founder, Rakkasan Tea Company • MSNBC columnist • Dallas Police Oversight Board • Former Obama guy • BJJ • Once a soldier
To be really clear: The reason members of Congress can't just walk right in is because of the guns. Armed DHS personnel won't allow entry. In other words, DHS is using armed force to *break* laws.
Democrats need to wrap their minds around that. Accept that the frog is boiled.
--------------------------------------------------
New York Times: ICE Imposes New Rules on Congressional Visits
Michael Gold | 19 June 2025
The Department of Homeland Security has imposed new limits on visits by members of Congress and their staff to immigration enforcement facilities, intensifying a conflict between federal immigration officials and Democratic lawmakers over the separation of powers.
Under federal law, members of Congress can make unannounced oversight visits to immigration facilities that “detain or otherwise house aliens.” Lawmakers are not required to provide “prior notice of the intent to enter a facility” to conduct oversight, though members of their staff must request a visit at least 24 hours in advance.
But in guidance released this month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement asks members of Congress to give at least 72 hours notice for a visit to its facilities. Asked about the policy, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, went even further, suggesting that federal officials would not be allowed entry unless they provided a week’s notice.
“A week is sufficient to ensure no intrusion on the president’s constitutional authority,” the spokeswoman, Tricia McLaughlin, said in a statement. She added that “any request to shorten that time must be approved” by the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem ...
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/19/us/politics/ice-congress.html
______________________________________________
The New York Times @nytimes.com | June 20, 2025 at 11:40 AM (bsky.app)
A once temporary holding area in Manhattan where ICE would hold a few dozen immigrants for a few hours at a time has become overcrowded, with some spending days there sleeping on the floor. Democrats' demands to access the area oversight purposes have been denied.
What’s Inside a 10th Floor ICE Office? New York Democrats Want to Know.
Nine members of Congress are accusing the federal authorities of blocking their right to examine conditions at what is supposed to be a temporary stop for detained immigrants ...
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/20/nyregion/ny-democrats-access-26-federal-plaza...
51margd
Chris Kluwe @chriswarcraft.bsky.social | June 23, 2025 at 10:41 AM
A federal officer cannot be “doxxed.” The public has a right to know who is operating in our government, especially if they have the power to imprison someone.
Via Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com:
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons: "If you look before January 20, and even after January 20, the men & women of ICE did not have to have masks on their face. Me personally, I don't want those officers having to wear masks bc it's hot, it's dangerous. But ICE agents are being doxxed at a horrible rate"
A federal officer cannot be “doxxed.” The public has a right to know who is operating in our government, especially if they have the power to imprison someone.
Via Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com:
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons: "If you look before January 20, and even after January 20, the men & women of ICE did not have to have masks on their face. Me personally, I don't want those officers having to wear masks bc it's hot, it's dangerous. But ICE agents are being doxxed at a horrible rate"
52margd
Supreme court hands Trump immigration victory...
Guardian staff | Tue 24 Jun 2025
... The justices lifted a judicial order that required the government to give migrants set for deportation to so-called “third countries” a “meaningful opportunity” to tell officials they are at risk of torture at their new destination, while a legal challenge plays out. ...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/24/trump-administration-updates-tod...
-----------------------------------------------------
US Supreme Court allows Trump to resume deportations to third countries
Ali Abbas Ahmadi | 23 Jun 2025
By 6-3, the justices reversed a lower court order requiring the government to give migrants a "meaningful opportunity" to tell officials what risks they might face being deported to a third country.
... The case involves eight migrants from Myanmar, South Sudan, Cuba, Mexico, Laos and Vietnam, who were deported in May on a plane said to be heading for South Sudan. ...
Boston-based US District Judge Brian Murphy ruled the removals had violated an order he issued in April that migrants must have a chance to argue they could be tortured or killed if they were removed to third countries - even if their other legal appeals had already failed.
Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson criticised the majority's unsigned decision on Monday, calling it a "gross abuse".
"Apparently, the court finds the idea that thousands will suffer violence in farflung locales more palatable than the remote possibility that a district court exceeded its remedial powers when it ordered the government to provide notice and process to which the plaintiffs are constitutionally and statutorily entitled," Sotomayor wrote.
"That use of discretion is as incomprehensible as it is inexcusable."
The Department of Homeland Security said the ruling was "a victory for the safety and security of the American people."
"Fire up the deportation planes," said the agency's spokeswoman, Tricia McLaughlin.
The Trump administration said the eight migrants had committed "heinous crimes" in the US, including murder, arson and armed robbery.
But the migrants' lawyers said in a filing to the Supreme Court that many of the detainees had no criminal convictions...
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy5wkrn99qpo
-----------------------------------------------------
Corey Rayburn Yung @coreyryung.bsky.social | June 23, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Prof at KU Law. Writes about sexual violence, criminal law, courts, judges, and empirical legal studies.
It's impressive how SCOTUS managed to eviscerate the rule of law on two independent levels: 1) it rewards lawless disregard of court orders; and 2) makes Due Process optional. And, they did so without even explaining their ruling.
------------------------------------------------------
Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social | June 23, 2025 at 4:53 PM
professor @georgetownlaw.bsky.social; #SCOTUS nerd @CNN.com
This decision is bad enough on the merits. But it also gives the government relief in a case in which it defied the district court at least *twice.* That’s quite a message to send to the government with respect to the costs of its litigation behavior in other cases—or the complete lack thereof.
5:59 PM
Today’s unsigned, unexplained #SCOTUS ruling clearing the way for removals of migrants to third countries without any additional process is a disaster—not just on the merits, but because of the government misbehavior that it not only refuses to punish, but effectively rewards.
161. The Court's Disastrous Ruling in the Third-Country Removal Case
The majority did not just greenlight an especially odious immigration policy without any explanation; it did so in a case in which the government defied the district court—twice—with no consequence.
Steve Vladeck | Jun 23, 2025
https://www.stevevladeck.com/p/161-the-courts-disastrous-ruling
Guardian staff | Tue 24 Jun 2025
... The justices lifted a judicial order that required the government to give migrants set for deportation to so-called “third countries” a “meaningful opportunity” to tell officials they are at risk of torture at their new destination, while a legal challenge plays out. ...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/24/trump-administration-updates-tod...
-----------------------------------------------------
US Supreme Court allows Trump to resume deportations to third countries
Ali Abbas Ahmadi | 23 Jun 2025
By 6-3, the justices reversed a lower court order requiring the government to give migrants a "meaningful opportunity" to tell officials what risks they might face being deported to a third country.
... The case involves eight migrants from Myanmar, South Sudan, Cuba, Mexico, Laos and Vietnam, who were deported in May on a plane said to be heading for South Sudan. ...
Boston-based US District Judge Brian Murphy ruled the removals had violated an order he issued in April that migrants must have a chance to argue they could be tortured or killed if they were removed to third countries - even if their other legal appeals had already failed.
Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson criticised the majority's unsigned decision on Monday, calling it a "gross abuse".
"Apparently, the court finds the idea that thousands will suffer violence in farflung locales more palatable than the remote possibility that a district court exceeded its remedial powers when it ordered the government to provide notice and process to which the plaintiffs are constitutionally and statutorily entitled," Sotomayor wrote.
"That use of discretion is as incomprehensible as it is inexcusable."
The Department of Homeland Security said the ruling was "a victory for the safety and security of the American people."
"Fire up the deportation planes," said the agency's spokeswoman, Tricia McLaughlin.
The Trump administration said the eight migrants had committed "heinous crimes" in the US, including murder, arson and armed robbery.
But the migrants' lawyers said in a filing to the Supreme Court that many of the detainees had no criminal convictions...
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy5wkrn99qpo
-----------------------------------------------------
Corey Rayburn Yung @coreyryung.bsky.social | June 23, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Prof at KU Law. Writes about sexual violence, criminal law, courts, judges, and empirical legal studies.
It's impressive how SCOTUS managed to eviscerate the rule of law on two independent levels: 1) it rewards lawless disregard of court orders; and 2) makes Due Process optional. And, they did so without even explaining their ruling.
------------------------------------------------------
Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social | June 23, 2025 at 4:53 PM
professor @georgetownlaw.bsky.social; #SCOTUS nerd @CNN.com
This decision is bad enough on the merits. But it also gives the government relief in a case in which it defied the district court at least *twice.* That’s quite a message to send to the government with respect to the costs of its litigation behavior in other cases—or the complete lack thereof.
5:59 PM
Today’s unsigned, unexplained #SCOTUS ruling clearing the way for removals of migrants to third countries without any additional process is a disaster—not just on the merits, but because of the government misbehavior that it not only refuses to punish, but effectively rewards.
161. The Court's Disastrous Ruling in the Third-Country Removal Case
The majority did not just greenlight an especially odious immigration policy without any explanation; it did so in a case in which the government defied the district court—twice—with no consequence.
Steve Vladeck | Jun 23, 2025
https://www.stevevladeck.com/p/161-the-courts-disastrous-ruling
53margd
Congress attacks CBO and GAO for analyzing Trump initiatives:
Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social | June 25, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Policy Professor, Ford School, University of Michigan. Irish immigrant. Administrative burdens guy.
New, from me: Congressional Republicans are attacking the Congressional Budget Office and proposing to cut the General Accountability Office in half. Why? They had the temerity to challenge what the Trump administration is doing, Y’know, checks and balances.
It’s useful to know that historically, Congress had both invested in building capacity as the executive branch did, and pushed back against executive criticism of their agencies. Not any more!
Why is GAO facing a 50% budget cut? It has pointed out and continues to point out that Trump is breaking the law by not spending money appropriated by Congress. So Trump has declared war on the agency.
--------------------------------------------
Congress Fights Back...Against Congress
Congressional Republicans threaten their own institutions to protect Trump
Don Moynihan | 25 June 2025
https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/congress-fights-backagainst-congress
Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social | June 25, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Policy Professor, Ford School, University of Michigan. Irish immigrant. Administrative burdens guy.
New, from me: Congressional Republicans are attacking the Congressional Budget Office and proposing to cut the General Accountability Office in half. Why? They had the temerity to challenge what the Trump administration is doing, Y’know, checks and balances.
It’s useful to know that historically, Congress had both invested in building capacity as the executive branch did, and pushed back against executive criticism of their agencies. Not any more!
Why is GAO facing a 50% budget cut? It has pointed out and continues to point out that Trump is breaking the law by not spending money appropriated by Congress. So Trump has declared war on the agency.
--------------------------------------------
Congress Fights Back...Against Congress
Congressional Republicans threaten their own institutions to protect Trump
Don Moynihan | 25 June 2025
https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/congress-fights-backagainst-congress
54John5918
Are we witnessing the death of international law? (Guardian)
A growing number of scholars and lawyers are losing faith in the current system. Others say the law is not to blame, but the states that are supposed to uphold it...
55margd
>52 margd: contd.
The Supreme Court Picks Trump Over the Rule of Law
Matt Ford / June 25, 2025
The high court has dealt a savage blow to due process and has rewarded the administration for defying court orders...
https://newrepublic.com/article/197186/supreme-court-rewarding-trump-deportation
The Supreme Court Picks Trump Over the Rule of Law
Matt Ford / June 25, 2025
The high court has dealt a savage blow to due process and has rewarded the administration for defying court orders...
https://newrepublic.com/article/197186/supreme-court-rewarding-trump-deportation
56margd
Eric Topol {cardiologist-scientist Scripps} @erictopol.bsky.social | June 28, 2025 at 10:21 AM
It's no wonder that 1984 has jumped onto the bestseller list
https://www.amazon.com/1984-Signet-Classics-George-Orwell/dp/0451524934/ref=zg_b...
It's no wonder that 1984 has jumped onto the bestseller list
https://www.amazon.com/1984-Signet-Classics-George-Orwell/dp/0451524934/ref=zg_b...
57margd
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com | July 1, 2025 at 12:32 PM: (bsky.app)
Trump calls for deporting US citizens: "We also have a lot of bad people that have been here for a long time ... many of them were born in our country. I think we ought to get them the hell out of here too, if you want to know the truth. So maybe that'll be the next job."
{video of Trump at} https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3lsw4shzqkr2l
Trump calls for deporting US citizens: "We also have a lot of bad people that have been here for a long time ... many of them were born in our country. I think we ought to get them the hell out of here too, if you want to know the truth. So maybe that'll be the next job."
{video of Trump at} https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3lsw4shzqkr2l
58margd
Katie Phang @katiephang.bsky.social | July 1, 2025 at 6:45 PM {bsky.app}
Trump’s coming after naturalized US Citizens now.
My latest on the attempts by Trump DOJ’s Civil Division to take away your citizenship through whatever means necessary.
Trump’s DOJ TARGETS Millions With New SCHEME (13:56)
Katie Phang |1 July 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P67MvUNbzW0
Trump’s coming after naturalized US Citizens now.
My latest on the attempts by Trump DOJ’s Civil Division to take away your citizenship through whatever means necessary.
Trump’s DOJ TARGETS Millions With New SCHEME (13:56)
Katie Phang |1 July 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P67MvUNbzW0
59margd
Immigration judges are under the Dept of Justice, unlike other judges ...
Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social | July 1, 2025 at 6:08 PM {bsky.app}
Deporting U.S. citizens, National Guard troops as immigration judges. Just making fascism up on the fly now. And why not? Who is going to stop him?
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com | July 1, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Q: DeSantis has proposed deputizing the National Guard and using them as immigration judges. Would you be open to that?
TRUMP: Yes. He has my approval.
{Trump video} https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3lsw5lyfezc2q
Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social | July 1, 2025 at 6:08 PM {bsky.app}
Deporting U.S. citizens, National Guard troops as immigration judges. Just making fascism up on the fly now. And why not? Who is going to stop him?
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com | July 1, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Q: DeSantis has proposed deputizing the National Guard and using them as immigration judges. Would you be open to that?
TRUMP: Yes. He has my approval.
{Trump video} https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3lsw5lyfezc2q
60margd
IRS says churches can now endorse political candidates
Daniel Burke, Bob Smietana, Jack Jenkins | July 8, 2025
Heard on Morning Edition
... Since 1954, a provision in the tax code called the Johnson Amendment says that churches and other nonprofit organizations could lose their tax-exempt status if they participate in, or intervene in "any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office."
The National Religious Broadcasters and several churches sued the IRS over the rule, arguing that it infringes on their First Amendment rights to the freedom of speech and the free exercise of religion.
The IRS rarely enforced the rule. {only one church has ever lost its tax exemption over politics. In 1992, a church in New York took out ads opposing Bill Clinton, leading to the loss of its tax exemption.} During President Trump's first term, he promised to "get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution."
In Monday's court filing, the IRS didn't go that far. But it did say that when a house of worship "in good faith speaks to its congregation, through its customary channels of communication on matters of faith in connection with religious services, concerning electoral politics viewed through the lens of religious faith" it neither participates nor intervenes in a political campaign.
Rather, the IRS compared religious institution's endorsement of candidates to a "family discussion."
"Thus, communications from a house of worship to its congregation in connection with religious services through its usual channels of communication on matters of faith do not run afoul of the Johnson Amendment as properly interpreted." ...
https://www.npr.org/2025/07/08/nx-s1-5460886/irs-now-says-pastors-can-endorse-po...
Daniel Burke, Bob Smietana, Jack Jenkins | July 8, 2025
Heard on Morning Edition
... Since 1954, a provision in the tax code called the Johnson Amendment says that churches and other nonprofit organizations could lose their tax-exempt status if they participate in, or intervene in "any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office."
The National Religious Broadcasters and several churches sued the IRS over the rule, arguing that it infringes on their First Amendment rights to the freedom of speech and the free exercise of religion.
The IRS rarely enforced the rule. {only one church has ever lost its tax exemption over politics. In 1992, a church in New York took out ads opposing Bill Clinton, leading to the loss of its tax exemption.} During President Trump's first term, he promised to "get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution."
In Monday's court filing, the IRS didn't go that far. But it did say that when a house of worship "in good faith speaks to its congregation, through its customary channels of communication on matters of faith in connection with religious services, concerning electoral politics viewed through the lens of religious faith" it neither participates nor intervenes in a political campaign.
Rather, the IRS compared religious institution's endorsement of candidates to a "family discussion."
"Thus, communications from a house of worship to its congregation in connection with religious services through its usual channels of communication on matters of faith do not run afoul of the Johnson Amendment as properly interpreted." ...
https://www.npr.org/2025/07/08/nx-s1-5460886/irs-now-says-pastors-can-endorse-po...
61margd
Laurence H. Tribe @tribelaw.bsky.social | July 12, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Harvard law Emiratus
President Trump is openly telling a celebrity and political enemy — Rosie O’Donnell — that he is “serious” about taking away her American citizenship and exiling her from the U.S. because he dislikes the views she expresses when exercising her free speech rights ...
---------------------------------------------------
Trump says he’s considering revoking Rosie O’Donnell’s citizenship, reigniting decadeslong feud
Donald Judd | July 12, 2025
... Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump | Jul 12, 2025, 9:42 AM {Truth Social}
Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship. She is a Threat to Humanity, and should remain in the wonderful Country of Ireland, if they want her. GOD BLESS AMERICA! ...
... Steve Vladeck, CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at Georgetown Law, said Saturday that Trump’s threat of “coercive expatriation” was “patently unconstitutional ...
For good reasons, it is difficult to denaturalize a U.S. citizen and even harder to expatriate one ... Congress has provided for only a handful of circumstances in which the executive branch is empowered to pursue such a move; and the Supreme Court has recognized meaningful constitutional limits (and an entitlement to meaningful judicial review) even in those cases.”
... O’Donnell drew attention last weekend after she posted a video to TikTok slamming the Trump administration’s response to the Texas floods, claiming the president “gut{ted} all of the early warning systems and the weathering‑forecast abilities of the government,” stymying the federal response. {https://www.tiktok.com/@rosie/video/7523941638457003294?lang=en} ...
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/12/politics/rosie-odonnell-donald-trump
Harvard law Emiratus
President Trump is openly telling a celebrity and political enemy — Rosie O’Donnell — that he is “serious” about taking away her American citizenship and exiling her from the U.S. because he dislikes the views she expresses when exercising her free speech rights ...
---------------------------------------------------
Trump says he’s considering revoking Rosie O’Donnell’s citizenship, reigniting decadeslong feud
Donald Judd | July 12, 2025
... Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump | Jul 12, 2025, 9:42 AM {Truth Social}
Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship. She is a Threat to Humanity, and should remain in the wonderful Country of Ireland, if they want her. GOD BLESS AMERICA! ...
... Steve Vladeck, CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at Georgetown Law, said Saturday that Trump’s threat of “coercive expatriation” was “patently unconstitutional ...
For good reasons, it is difficult to denaturalize a U.S. citizen and even harder to expatriate one ... Congress has provided for only a handful of circumstances in which the executive branch is empowered to pursue such a move; and the Supreme Court has recognized meaningful constitutional limits (and an entitlement to meaningful judicial review) even in those cases.”
... O’Donnell drew attention last weekend after she posted a video to TikTok slamming the Trump administration’s response to the Texas floods, claiming the president “gut{ted} all of the early warning systems and the weathering‑forecast abilities of the government,” stymying the federal response. {https://www.tiktok.com/@rosie/video/7523941638457003294?lang=en} ...
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/12/politics/rosie-odonnell-donald-trump
62John5918
At Glastonbury, I saw what England’s silent majority really looks like. Why aren’t politicians listening? (Guardian)
Orthodox politics no longer represents how people feel about the world. Sooner or later, something will have to give...
63John5918
From Gaza to Ukraine, peace always seems just out of reach – and the reason isn’t only political (Guardian)
Murdering and massacring innocents is indefensible. So why on earth is it allowed to continue? The answer is moral relativism... The fact is, not everyone does agree. What is absolutely morally indefensible to one group of people is relatively permissible or justifiable to another. This has held true throughout human history. Yet today’s geopolitically and economically divided world is also ethically and morally fractured to a possibly unparalleled degree. Agreed, observed standards – what the American writer David Brooks terms a “permanent moral order” – are lacking. The collapse of the international rules-based order is mirrored by this crisis of the moral order. Without accepted universal principles, the peaceful settlement of conflicts, foreign or domestic, becomes highly problematic... Making a moral case for peace can be confusing, even controversial; ask any church or mosque leader. For many people, it seems, morality is a dirty word these days. It’s fungible, negotiable and emotive – a matter primarily of individual choice and cultural belonging, not of duty, obligation or fidelity to a higher law... This very modern failure, this retreat into subjective, made-to-measure morality, this renunciation of shared responsibility, is reversible. Universal ethical standards still apply. They are defined by the Geneva conventions, by other secular instruments of international law, through religious faith and through the social contract. They should be respected and strengthened. They are necessary, sometimes inconvenient truths...
64margd
{ICE actions} "If ... it was never about ..."
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1AqNKv2c1C/
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1822429328313021
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1AqNKv2c1C/
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1822429328313021
65margd
Laurence H. Tribe {Harvard Law emritus} @tribelaw.bsky.social | July 25, 2025 at 9:05 AM {BSKY.app}
Now Trump will treat being homeless as an offense to justify imprisoning people without trial {drugs, mentally ill} in the growing set of concentration camps that he avoids calling what they are. All in the name of safe public spaces and less crime. Unconstitutional, but hard to stop.
ENDING CRIME AND DISORDER ON AMERICA’S STREETS (Executive Orders)
THE WHITE HOUSE | July 24, 2025
Section 1. Purpose and Policy.
Sec. 2. Restoring Civil Commitment.
Sec. 3. Fighting Vagrancy on America’s Streets.
Sec. 4. Redirecting Federal Resources Toward Effective Methods of Addressing Homelessness.
Sec. 5. Increasing Accountability and Safety in America’s Homelessness Programs.
Sec. 6. General Provisions.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/07/ending-crime-and-disorde...
Now Trump will treat being homeless as an offense to justify imprisoning people without trial {drugs, mentally ill} in the growing set of concentration camps that he avoids calling what they are. All in the name of safe public spaces and less crime. Unconstitutional, but hard to stop.
ENDING CRIME AND DISORDER ON AMERICA’S STREETS (Executive Orders)
THE WHITE HOUSE | July 24, 2025
Section 1. Purpose and Policy.
Sec. 2. Restoring Civil Commitment.
Sec. 3. Fighting Vagrancy on America’s Streets.
Sec. 4. Redirecting Federal Resources Toward Effective Methods of Addressing Homelessness.
Sec. 5. Increasing Accountability and Safety in America’s Homelessness Programs.
Sec. 6. General Provisions.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/07/ending-crime-and-disorde...
66margd
Article by a Cdn academic is directed toward Canada, but is cautionary for Americans as well. Amazing to remember the original opposition to Social Security numbers because they could facilitate invasion of personal privacy ...
How Eurostack could offer Canada a route to digital independence from the United States
Ted Palys* | July 14, 2025
... Having witnessed ... invasion of privacy and its weaponization first-hand Stazi, Stalin, Europe has been far ahead of North America in developing protections. These include the General Data Protection Regulation and the Law Enforcement Directive, with protection of personal data also listed in the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights.
... Three recent developments in US suggest Canada would be well-advised to start paying close attention:
1. The current U.S. administration has raised concerns about its reliability as a partner and friend to Canada ... (Cdn) vulnerabilities for national security ... U.S. domination of Canada’s digital infrastructure ...
2. Silicon Valley is exhibiting a newfound loyalty to Trump ... apparent eagerness to appease the president brings the data gathered by the internet’s surveillance-based economy under state control.
3. Trump’s recent executive order entitled “Stopping waste, fraud and abuse by eliminating information silos” is alarming ... contract ... with Palantir, a company known for its surveillance software and data analytics in military contexts. Its job? To combine databases from both the state and federal levels into one massive database that includes every American citizen, and potentially any user of the internet ...
The appeal of Eurostack ... A joint initiative involving academics, policymakers, companies and governments, it envisions an independent digital ecosystem that better reflects European values — democratic, sovereign, inclusive, transparent, respectful of personal privacy and innovation-driven ...
* Ted Palys. Professor of Criminology, Associate Member of Dept. of Indigenous Studies, Simon Fraser University
https://theconversation.com/how-eurostack-could-offer-canada-a-route-to-digital-...
How Eurostack could offer Canada a route to digital independence from the United States
Ted Palys* | July 14, 2025
... Having witnessed ... invasion of privacy and its weaponization first-hand Stazi, Stalin, Europe has been far ahead of North America in developing protections. These include the General Data Protection Regulation and the Law Enforcement Directive, with protection of personal data also listed in the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights.
... Three recent developments in US suggest Canada would be well-advised to start paying close attention:
1. The current U.S. administration has raised concerns about its reliability as a partner and friend to Canada ... (Cdn) vulnerabilities for national security ... U.S. domination of Canada’s digital infrastructure ...
2. Silicon Valley is exhibiting a newfound loyalty to Trump ... apparent eagerness to appease the president brings the data gathered by the internet’s surveillance-based economy under state control.
3. Trump’s recent executive order entitled “Stopping waste, fraud and abuse by eliminating information silos” is alarming ... contract ... with Palantir, a company known for its surveillance software and data analytics in military contexts. Its job? To combine databases from both the state and federal levels into one massive database that includes every American citizen, and potentially any user of the internet ...
The appeal of Eurostack ... A joint initiative involving academics, policymakers, companies and governments, it envisions an independent digital ecosystem that better reflects European values — democratic, sovereign, inclusive, transparent, respectful of personal privacy and innovation-driven ...
* Ted Palys. Professor of Criminology, Associate Member of Dept. of Indigenous Studies, Simon Fraser University
https://theconversation.com/how-eurostack-could-offer-canada-a-route-to-digital-...
67margd
>66 margd: contd.
Palantir Is Extending Its Reach Even Further Into Government
MAKENA KELLY | 1 Aug 2025
Palantir has become one of the few winners in the Trump administration’s cost-cutting efforts, offering other contractors a lifeline while consolidating its own reach and power.
... “To have one company monopolize and become the gatekeeper of software in the government, to become an ‘app factory,’ for the government, in a sense, where they're in every agency, they're part of the defense complex and the intelligence complex, brings huge concerns regarding fairness, regarding competition, and puts Palantir in a very unique position that maybe has never existed,” says Juan Sebastián Pinto, a former Palantir employee and critic of the company.
https://www.wired.com/story/palantir-government-contracting-push/
Palantir Is Extending Its Reach Even Further Into Government
MAKENA KELLY | 1 Aug 2025
Palantir has become one of the few winners in the Trump administration’s cost-cutting efforts, offering other contractors a lifeline while consolidating its own reach and power.
... “To have one company monopolize and become the gatekeeper of software in the government, to become an ‘app factory,’ for the government, in a sense, where they're in every agency, they're part of the defense complex and the intelligence complex, brings huge concerns regarding fairness, regarding competition, and puts Palantir in a very unique position that maybe has never existed,” says Juan Sebastián Pinto, a former Palantir employee and critic of the company.
https://www.wired.com/story/palantir-government-contracting-push/
68margd
Trump’s Domestic Use of Military Set to Get Worse, Leaked Memo* Shows
Greg Sargent | August 2, 2025
...The {Department of Homeland Security} memo lays out the need to persuade top Pentagon officials to get much more serious about using the military to combat illegal immigration—and not just at the border. It suggests that DHS is anticipating many more uses of the military in urban centers, noting that L.A.-style operations may be needed “for years to come.” And it likens the threat posed by transnational gangs and cartels to having “Al Qaeda or ISIS cells and fighters operating freely inside America,” hinting at a ramped-up militarized posture inside the interior.
“The memo is alarming, because it speaks to the intent to use the military within the United States at a level not seen since Japanese internment,” Carrie Lee, senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund, told me. “The military is the most powerful, coercive tool our country has. We don’t want the military doing law enforcement. It absolutely undermines the rule of law.”
The memo was authored by Philip Hegseth—the younger brother of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth—who is a senior adviser to Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem and DHS liaison officer to the Defense Department. ...
* https://newrepublic.com/article/198689/department-homeland-security-memo
https://newrepublic.com/article/198708/trump-military-anti-immigration-dhs-leake...
----------------------------------------------
Can you imagine volunteer National Guard being deployed --taking leave of civilian employment and maybe family -- not to defend country, but to do ICE paperwork, etc.??
{VT Governor} Phil Scott declines Pentagon request to use Vermont National Guard at ICE facilities
Peter Hirschfeld | July 30, 2025
Vermont Republican Gov. Phil Scott has denied a request from the U.S. Department of Defense to activate Vermont Army National Guard soldiers in support of federal immigration enforcement activities.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth last week asked a number of states, including Vermont, to assign Guard soldiers to aid U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to Joseph Brooks, a public information officer at the Vermont National Guard...
https://www.vermontpublic.org/local-news/2025-07-30/phil-scott-declines-pentagon...
Greg Sargent | August 2, 2025
...The {Department of Homeland Security} memo lays out the need to persuade top Pentagon officials to get much more serious about using the military to combat illegal immigration—and not just at the border. It suggests that DHS is anticipating many more uses of the military in urban centers, noting that L.A.-style operations may be needed “for years to come.” And it likens the threat posed by transnational gangs and cartels to having “Al Qaeda or ISIS cells and fighters operating freely inside America,” hinting at a ramped-up militarized posture inside the interior.
“The memo is alarming, because it speaks to the intent to use the military within the United States at a level not seen since Japanese internment,” Carrie Lee, senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund, told me. “The military is the most powerful, coercive tool our country has. We don’t want the military doing law enforcement. It absolutely undermines the rule of law.”
The memo was authored by Philip Hegseth—the younger brother of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth—who is a senior adviser to Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem and DHS liaison officer to the Defense Department. ...
* https://newrepublic.com/article/198689/department-homeland-security-memo
https://newrepublic.com/article/198708/trump-military-anti-immigration-dhs-leake...
----------------------------------------------
Can you imagine volunteer National Guard being deployed --taking leave of civilian employment and maybe family -- not to defend country, but to do ICE paperwork, etc.??
{VT Governor} Phil Scott declines Pentagon request to use Vermont National Guard at ICE facilities
Peter Hirschfeld | July 30, 2025
Vermont Republican Gov. Phil Scott has denied a request from the U.S. Department of Defense to activate Vermont Army National Guard soldiers in support of federal immigration enforcement activities.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth last week asked a number of states, including Vermont, to assign Guard soldiers to aid U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to Joseph Brooks, a public information officer at the Vermont National Guard...
https://www.vermontpublic.org/local-news/2025-07-30/phil-scott-declines-pentagon...
69margd
Watchdog agency launches probe into former Trump prosecutor Jack Smith
Kaanita Iyer | 2 Aug 2025
... While the Office of Special Counsel — which is distinct from the special counsels, like Smith, who are appointed to oversee politically sensitive Justice Department investigations — is an independent agency created by Congress. It is currently helmed by a Trump appointee in an acting capacity after the president fired the previous head of the office, who was appointed by President Joe Biden for a five year term.
The office handles allegations of whistleblower retaliation and Hatch Act investigations, according to its website.
... The Office of Special Counsel investigation comes after Trump ally Sen. Tom Cotton claimed earlier this week that “Smith used his DOJ role to influence the election” in favor of Biden’s and Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaigns, pointing to Smith filing a brief within 60 days of Election Day — which could violate a separate Justice Department rule that goes beyond the Hatch Act.
Richard Painter, the top ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration, told CNN he has “never seen a prosecutor found to violate the Hatch Act for pleading with a court.”
“If Jack Smith was making public announcements close to the election and putting up press releases, that is something he’d have to be extremely careful about,” said Painter, now a law professor at the University of Minnesota. “But this was a case that’d been pending ever since the summer of 2023, and for him to continue the case with the filings with the courts that he filed, I don’t think that is a violation of the Hatch Act.” ...
https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/02/politics/jack-smith-office-of-special-counsel-hat...
________________________________
Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social | July 31, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Senior Editor, Lawfaremedia.org.
NEW: A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze federal funds.
Then the harassment began.
Pizzas sent to his home in the name of Judge Esther Salas’s murdered son, Daniel.
Six credible threats to his life.
More than 400 “vile” calls to his chambers—including this voicemail: https://bsky.app/profile/annabower.bsky.social/post/3lvco5ctdks2x
The voicemail was played aloud during an event hosted by Speak Up for Justice.
The recipient—U.S. district judge John McConnell—publicly detailed the harassment he has endured in recent months.
“It’s the one time that actually shook my faith in the judicial system and the rule of law,” he said.
At the event, McConnell was joined by several fellow members of the federal judiciary—marking a rare instance in which sitting judges publicly address the threats and harassment they have faced.
Judge Robert Lasnik said he also received pizzas that were sent under the name of Judge Salas’s murdered son
“Two of my adult kids, who live in other cities on the West Coast, received pizzas that they did not order, and we received one at our home in Seattle. All three were in the name of Daniel.”
To Judge Lasnik, the message was clear:
“We know where you live, we know where your children live, and they could end up dead like Judge Salas's son did. That's a pretty cruel thing to do,” he said.
Judge John C. Coughenour, who in February blocked Trump’s executive order to restrict birthright citizenship, said that he and his wife had been “swatted.”
“The local sheriff's office received a call saying that I had murdered my wife, and they arrived at my house with weapons drawn,” he said.
Judge Coughenour continued:
“Looking back at what happened in Germany, my good friend Judge Lasnik said, ‘Where were the judges? Where were the lawyers?’”
“We need a call to action in this country from our lawyers and our judges to say ‘not in our country, not on our watch,’” he said.
Judge Esther Salas also spoke at the event, choking back tears as she reflected on the 5-year anniversary of her son Daniel’s murder by a man who had appeared before her in court.
She described the pain of hearing how Daniel’s name has been “weaponized” to intimidate other judges.
Judge Salas called on “political leaders from the top down” to “stop fanning these flames.”
“Stop demonizing us, stop villainizing us, because what they're doing when they do that irresponsible rhetoric is they are inviting people to do us harm,” she said.
“The facts are that we have political leaders with large social platforms—political leaders with power, right?—calling us ‘deranged’ and ‘idiots,’” Judge Salas said.
“That is the inflammatory rhetoric that I think caused the judges that are on here today to come forward.”
Kaanita Iyer | 2 Aug 2025
... While the Office of Special Counsel — which is distinct from the special counsels, like Smith, who are appointed to oversee politically sensitive Justice Department investigations — is an independent agency created by Congress. It is currently helmed by a Trump appointee in an acting capacity after the president fired the previous head of the office, who was appointed by President Joe Biden for a five year term.
The office handles allegations of whistleblower retaliation and Hatch Act investigations, according to its website.
... The Office of Special Counsel investigation comes after Trump ally Sen. Tom Cotton claimed earlier this week that “Smith used his DOJ role to influence the election” in favor of Biden’s and Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaigns, pointing to Smith filing a brief within 60 days of Election Day — which could violate a separate Justice Department rule that goes beyond the Hatch Act.
Richard Painter, the top ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration, told CNN he has “never seen a prosecutor found to violate the Hatch Act for pleading with a court.”
“If Jack Smith was making public announcements close to the election and putting up press releases, that is something he’d have to be extremely careful about,” said Painter, now a law professor at the University of Minnesota. “But this was a case that’d been pending ever since the summer of 2023, and for him to continue the case with the filings with the courts that he filed, I don’t think that is a violation of the Hatch Act.” ...
https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/02/politics/jack-smith-office-of-special-counsel-hat...
________________________________
Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social | July 31, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Senior Editor, Lawfaremedia.org.
NEW: A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze federal funds.
Then the harassment began.
Pizzas sent to his home in the name of Judge Esther Salas’s murdered son, Daniel.
Six credible threats to his life.
More than 400 “vile” calls to his chambers—including this voicemail: https://bsky.app/profile/annabower.bsky.social/post/3lvco5ctdks2x
The voicemail was played aloud during an event hosted by Speak Up for Justice.
The recipient—U.S. district judge John McConnell—publicly detailed the harassment he has endured in recent months.
“It’s the one time that actually shook my faith in the judicial system and the rule of law,” he said.
At the event, McConnell was joined by several fellow members of the federal judiciary—marking a rare instance in which sitting judges publicly address the threats and harassment they have faced.
Judge Robert Lasnik said he also received pizzas that were sent under the name of Judge Salas’s murdered son
“Two of my adult kids, who live in other cities on the West Coast, received pizzas that they did not order, and we received one at our home in Seattle. All three were in the name of Daniel.”
To Judge Lasnik, the message was clear:
“We know where you live, we know where your children live, and they could end up dead like Judge Salas's son did. That's a pretty cruel thing to do,” he said.
Judge John C. Coughenour, who in February blocked Trump’s executive order to restrict birthright citizenship, said that he and his wife had been “swatted.”
“The local sheriff's office received a call saying that I had murdered my wife, and they arrived at my house with weapons drawn,” he said.
Judge Coughenour continued:
“Looking back at what happened in Germany, my good friend Judge Lasnik said, ‘Where were the judges? Where were the lawyers?’”
“We need a call to action in this country from our lawyers and our judges to say ‘not in our country, not on our watch,’” he said.
Judge Esther Salas also spoke at the event, choking back tears as she reflected on the 5-year anniversary of her son Daniel’s murder by a man who had appeared before her in court.
She described the pain of hearing how Daniel’s name has been “weaponized” to intimidate other judges.
Judge Salas called on “political leaders from the top down” to “stop fanning these flames.”
“Stop demonizing us, stop villainizing us, because what they're doing when they do that irresponsible rhetoric is they are inviting people to do us harm,” she said.
“The facts are that we have political leaders with large social platforms—political leaders with power, right?—calling us ‘deranged’ and ‘idiots,’” Judge Salas said.
“That is the inflammatory rhetoric that I think caused the judges that are on here today to come forward.”
702wonderY
Today! Oopsy!
Key sections of the US Constitution deleted from government’s website
https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/06/key-sections-of-the-us-constitution-deleted-fr...
Several Reddit threads identified the changes in Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution: Large parts of Section 8 have been removed, and Sections 9 and 10 have been deleted altogether.
…
These sections largely relate to the powers that Congress has and does not have, as well as limitations on the powers of individual states. The removal includes sections relating to habeas corpus, the powers that protect citizens from unlawful detention.
——-
Error?
Key sections of the US Constitution deleted from government’s website
https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/06/key-sections-of-the-us-constitution-deleted-fr...
Several Reddit threads identified the changes in Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution: Large parts of Section 8 have been removed, and Sections 9 and 10 have been deleted altogether.
…
These sections largely relate to the powers that Congress has and does not have, as well as limitations on the powers of individual states. The removal includes sections relating to habeas corpus, the powers that protect citizens from unlawful detention.
——-
Error?
71margd
Wow! Will Republicans, ostensibly pro-business and small-government, stand for THIS?
(Deutsche Bank was the only one that would lend to high-risk Trump for a while there ...)
Donald Trump Orders Crackdown on Politically Motivated ‘Debanking’
Joel Khalili | Aug 8, 2025
In a new executive order, the US president has called on federal regulators to investigate and punish banks for alleged discrimination against conservatives and certain types of business...
https://www.wired.com/story/donald-trump-orders-crackdown-on-politically-motivat...
(Deutsche Bank was the only one that would lend to high-risk Trump for a while there ...)
Donald Trump Orders Crackdown on Politically Motivated ‘Debanking’
Joel Khalili | Aug 8, 2025
In a new executive order, the US president has called on federal regulators to investigate and punish banks for alleged discrimination against conservatives and certain types of business...
https://www.wired.com/story/donald-trump-orders-crackdown-on-politically-motivat...
72margd
Andrew—#IAmTheResistance—Wortman @AmoneyResists | 9:31 PM · Aug 22, 2025:
Smart ass with Twitter’s biggest 🎤. Pro-Democracy. Anti-Fascism. Gay AF. Trump & @GOP are TRAITORS & PEDOPHILES. America needs a revolution. I’m starting one.
🚨🚨🚨 Donald Trump just had @PeteHegseth carry out a FULL-BLOWN PURGE of America’s top military and national defense officials. Here’s the full list of who this dangerously unqualified, traitorous ex-@FoxNews hack just axed and the perilous implications for our country (THREAD):
❌ The CJCS (Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) → the top U.S. general & principal military advisor to the President
❌ The CNO (Chief of Naval Operations) → runs the entire Navy, responsible for global readiness to attacks from overseas
❌ The CGC (Commandant of the Coast Guard) → oversees all maritime defense, ports, and defensive homeland security initiatives
❌ The Air Force CoS (Chief of Staff) AND Vice Chief → the top two officers who run and coordinate all of America’s air and space operations
❌ The NSA (National Security Agency) Director → runs signals intelligence, surveillance, and cyber defense operations
❌ The DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) Director → America’s chief military intelligence officer, responsible for global threat assessments and responses
These are not “staffers.” They are seasoned heroes who’ve dedicated their lives to protecting America:
—From cyberattacks
—By maintaining nuclear & military readiness
—By assessing terrorist threats from Russia, China, Iran, etc.
—By keeping allies aligned & adversaries in check
Firing ALL OF THEM AT ONCE leaves America blind, leaderless, and vulnerable at the exact moment authoritarian regimes are watching closely for any potential openings.
Not only does this not “protect” America — it undermines our national and global security and INVITES DISASTER.
And what’s worse: the ONLY reason Hegseth (at Trump’s command) would do this is to replace them with spineless sycophants whose loyalty is to Trump — not the UCMJ; not the Constitution; not the American people. It paves the way for turning the military into his personal militia.
This is EXACTLY how dictators take over. See Stalin’s purge of his generals; Erdogan’s takeover of the Turkish military; Hitler’s SS, etc. They consolidate power by installing loyalists in top military command positions and then daring any lower ranking soldier to disobey them.
And yes — we have seen the warning signs of this sort of thing before. Such as Nixon’s infamous “Saturday Night Massacre.” Trump has terrifyingly taken it a step further — by pushing out top military officials in hopes of capturing our armed forces to wield them AGAINST AMERICANS
This purge is A FIVE ALARM FIRE. WE ARE SPEEDING TOWARD THE POINT OF NO RETURN. Trump is trying to turn OUR military into HIS PERSONAL MILITIA. That’s the end of democracy — and the birth of a U.S. dictatorship. And if Americans don’t stand up now, there may not be another chance
Smart ass with Twitter’s biggest 🎤. Pro-Democracy. Anti-Fascism. Gay AF. Trump & @GOP are TRAITORS & PEDOPHILES. America needs a revolution. I’m starting one.
🚨🚨🚨 Donald Trump just had @PeteHegseth carry out a FULL-BLOWN PURGE of America’s top military and national defense officials. Here’s the full list of who this dangerously unqualified, traitorous ex-@FoxNews hack just axed and the perilous implications for our country (THREAD):
❌ The CJCS (Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) → the top U.S. general & principal military advisor to the President
❌ The CNO (Chief of Naval Operations) → runs the entire Navy, responsible for global readiness to attacks from overseas
❌ The CGC (Commandant of the Coast Guard) → oversees all maritime defense, ports, and defensive homeland security initiatives
❌ The Air Force CoS (Chief of Staff) AND Vice Chief → the top two officers who run and coordinate all of America’s air and space operations
❌ The NSA (National Security Agency) Director → runs signals intelligence, surveillance, and cyber defense operations
❌ The DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) Director → America’s chief military intelligence officer, responsible for global threat assessments and responses
These are not “staffers.” They are seasoned heroes who’ve dedicated their lives to protecting America:
—From cyberattacks
—By maintaining nuclear & military readiness
—By assessing terrorist threats from Russia, China, Iran, etc.
—By keeping allies aligned & adversaries in check
Firing ALL OF THEM AT ONCE leaves America blind, leaderless, and vulnerable at the exact moment authoritarian regimes are watching closely for any potential openings.
Not only does this not “protect” America — it undermines our national and global security and INVITES DISASTER.
And what’s worse: the ONLY reason Hegseth (at Trump’s command) would do this is to replace them with spineless sycophants whose loyalty is to Trump — not the UCMJ; not the Constitution; not the American people. It paves the way for turning the military into his personal militia.
This is EXACTLY how dictators take over. See Stalin’s purge of his generals; Erdogan’s takeover of the Turkish military; Hitler’s SS, etc. They consolidate power by installing loyalists in top military command positions and then daring any lower ranking soldier to disobey them.
And yes — we have seen the warning signs of this sort of thing before. Such as Nixon’s infamous “Saturday Night Massacre.” Trump has terrifyingly taken it a step further — by pushing out top military officials in hopes of capturing our armed forces to wield them AGAINST AMERICANS
This purge is A FIVE ALARM FIRE. WE ARE SPEEDING TOWARD THE POINT OF NO RETURN. Trump is trying to turn OUR military into HIS PERSONAL MILITIA. That’s the end of democracy — and the birth of a U.S. dictatorship. And if Americans don’t stand up now, there may not be another chance
73margd
Reframing Jan. 6: After the Pardons, the Purge
Dan Barry and Alan Feuer | Aug. 24, 2025
In its campaign of “uprooting the foot soldiers,” the Trump Justice Department has fired or demoted more than two dozen Jan. 6 prosecutors, even as those they sent to prison walk free...
GIFT ARTICLE: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/nyregion/january-6-capitol-riot-prosecutors.h...
Dan Barry and Alan Feuer | Aug. 24, 2025
In its campaign of “uprooting the foot soldiers,” the Trump Justice Department has fired or demoted more than two dozen Jan. 6 prosecutors, even as those they sent to prison walk free...
GIFT ARTICLE: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/nyregion/january-6-capitol-riot-prosecutors.h...
74margd
$
Trump hits ABC, NBC as ‘FAKE NEWS,’ says he’d support FCC revoking licenses
Republican president claims networks are 'arm of the Democrat Party' due to bias
Bradford Betz | August 25, 2025
... Trump questioned why both entities aren’t "paying Millions of Dollars a year in LICENSE FEES."
"They should lose their Licenses for their unfair coverage of Republicans and/or Conservatives, but at a minimum, they should pay up BIG for having the privilege of using the most valuable airwaves anywhere at anytime!!!" Trump wrote. "Crooked ‘journalism’ should not be rewarded, it should be terminated!!!" ...
... Being national networks, ABC and NBC News do not hold FCC licenses for news content but provide programming for local affiliates across the country – which are regulated by the FCC and require licensing to operate in the U.S.
TV stations pay fees and annual regulatory fees based on station type and market, while cable outlets pay their own regulatory fees. Only congress has the authority to impose and collect such fees, which are deposited in the U.S. Treasury.
Any move to revoke licenses based on real or perceived news bias would run afoul of First Amendment protections. Similar attempts in the past have been struck down by the courts.
This is not the first time Trump has attacked broadcast outlets or threatened to strip their licenses. Last year, Trump settled a defamation suit against ABC for $15 million ...
https://www.foxnews.com/media/trump-hits-abc-nbc-fake-news-says-hed-support-fcc-...
Trump hits ABC, NBC as ‘FAKE NEWS,’ says he’d support FCC revoking licenses
Republican president claims networks are 'arm of the Democrat Party' due to bias
Bradford Betz | August 25, 2025
... Trump questioned why both entities aren’t "paying Millions of Dollars a year in LICENSE FEES."
"They should lose their Licenses for their unfair coverage of Republicans and/or Conservatives, but at a minimum, they should pay up BIG for having the privilege of using the most valuable airwaves anywhere at anytime!!!" Trump wrote. "Crooked ‘journalism’ should not be rewarded, it should be terminated!!!" ...
... Being national networks, ABC and NBC News do not hold FCC licenses for news content but provide programming for local affiliates across the country – which are regulated by the FCC and require licensing to operate in the U.S.
TV stations pay fees and annual regulatory fees based on station type and market, while cable outlets pay their own regulatory fees. Only congress has the authority to impose and collect such fees, which are deposited in the U.S. Treasury.
Any move to revoke licenses based on real or perceived news bias would run afoul of First Amendment protections. Similar attempts in the past have been struck down by the courts.
This is not the first time Trump has attacked broadcast outlets or threatened to strip their licenses. Last year, Trump settled a defamation suit against ABC for $15 million ...
https://www.foxnews.com/media/trump-hits-abc-nbc-fake-news-says-hed-support-fcc-...
75margd
$
The government’s Intel stake is antithetical to American greatness
Scott Lincicome (VP general economics and trade Cato Institute) | August 24, 2025
President Donald Trump’s announcement on Friday that the U.S. government will take a 10 percent stake in long-struggling Intel marks a dangerous turn in American industrial policy. Decades of market-oriented principles have been abandoned in favor of unprecedented government ownership of private enterprise...
Gift w email address https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/08/24/trump-intel-government-market...
The government’s Intel stake is antithetical to American greatness
Scott Lincicome (VP general economics and trade Cato Institute) | August 24, 2025
President Donald Trump’s announcement on Friday that the U.S. government will take a 10 percent stake in long-struggling Intel marks a dangerous turn in American industrial policy. Decades of market-oriented principles have been abandoned in favor of unprecedented government ownership of private enterprise...
Gift w email address https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/08/24/trump-intel-government-market...
76margd
Donald Trump Can Seize Your State’s National Guard - Here’s Why It Matters (4:16)
Adam Kinzinger | Aug 25, 2025
Most people believe the National Guard answers to their state’s governor. But here’s the truth: the President can seize control of your state’s Guard at any moment — even against your governor’s wishes. And right now, we’re seeing it happen in real time. President Trump has already declared an emergency in Washington, D.C., taken over the police, and deployed the Guard there. Now, he’s threatening to do the same in Baltimore, Chicago, and even New York City.
What does that mean for the Constitution, the Second Amendment, and your freedom?
Adam Kinzinger explains why the federalization of the National Guard threatens the very idea of a state militia and why the Founders intended militias to act as a safeguard against tyranny. From Supreme Court rulings to the modern abuse of executive power, this issue isn’t just history... it’s unfolding right now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHNPxMSj6qA
Adam Kinzinger | Aug 25, 2025
Most people believe the National Guard answers to their state’s governor. But here’s the truth: the President can seize control of your state’s Guard at any moment — even against your governor’s wishes. And right now, we’re seeing it happen in real time. President Trump has already declared an emergency in Washington, D.C., taken over the police, and deployed the Guard there. Now, he’s threatening to do the same in Baltimore, Chicago, and even New York City.
What does that mean for the Constitution, the Second Amendment, and your freedom?
Adam Kinzinger explains why the federalization of the National Guard threatens the very idea of a state militia and why the Founders intended militias to act as a safeguard against tyranny. From Supreme Court rulings to the modern abuse of executive power, this issue isn’t just history... it’s unfolding right now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHNPxMSj6qA
77margd
>72 margd: contd.
Donald Trump, Gen. Kruse, and the Perils of Yes Men
There are good reasons the best leaders don’t surround themselves with sycophants.
Mark Hertling | Aug 25, 2025
... Disagreement forces us to test ideas, to sharpen arguments, and to see risks that optimism or ego might otherwise obscure. When leaders protect dissent, they gain clarity. When they punish it, they guarantee blindness...
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/donald-trump-general-kruse-and-the-perils-of-yes-me...
Donald Trump, Gen. Kruse, and the Perils of Yes Men
There are good reasons the best leaders don’t surround themselves with sycophants.
Mark Hertling | Aug 25, 2025
... Disagreement forces us to test ideas, to sharpen arguments, and to see risks that optimism or ego might otherwise obscure. When leaders protect dissent, they gain clarity. When they punish it, they guarantee blindness...
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/donald-trump-general-kruse-and-the-perils-of-yes-me...
78margd
The Incalculable Costs of Corrupt Statistics
Diane Coyle | Aug 26, 2025
Reliable statistics are the foundation of sound governance, which is why US President Donald Trump’s attacks on the Bureau of Labor Statistics have alarmed economists. While tampering with economic figures may yield short-term political benefits, in many recent cases, the long-term consequences have been catastrophic...
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/trump-war-on-data-could-have-profou...
Diane Coyle | Aug 26, 2025
Reliable statistics are the foundation of sound governance, which is why US President Donald Trump’s attacks on the Bureau of Labor Statistics have alarmed economists. While tampering with economic figures may yield short-term political benefits, in many recent cases, the long-term consequences have been catastrophic...
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/trump-war-on-data-could-have-profou...
79margd
ADDITIONAL MEASURES TO ADDRESS THE
CRIME EMERGENCY IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Executive Orders
White House | August 25, 2025
... The Director of the National Park Service {Interior!!} shall ... hire additional members of the United States Park Police in the District of Columbia to ... ensure enforcement of all applicable laws within their jurisdiction ...
... The United States Attorney for the District of Columbia shall ... hire additional prosecutors to focus on prosecuting violent and property crimes.
... The D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force ... shall establish an online portal for Americans with law enforcement or other relevant backgrounds and experience to apply to join Federal law enforcement entities ..
... The Secretary of Defense shall, subject to the availability of appropriations and applicable law, immediately create ... a specialized unit within the District of Columbia National Guard ... that is dedicated to ensuring public safety and order in the Nation’s capital.
... The Secretary of Defense shall immediately begin ensuring that each State’s Army National Guard and Air National Guard are ... available to assist Federal, State, and local law enforcement in quelling civil disturbances and ensuring the public safety and order ... the Secretary of Defense shall designate an appropriate number of each State’s trained National Guard members to be reasonably available for rapid mobilization for such purposes... the Secretary of Defense shall ensure the availability of a standing National Guard quick reaction force ... for rapid nationwide deployment.
The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) shall investigate any non-compliance with the crime-prevention and safety requirements of HUD agreements ... include consideration of the provisions of such agreements that require housing providers to maintain safe, decent, and sanitary conditions or to restrict tenants who engage in criminal activity that threatens health, safety, and the right to peaceful enjoyment for other tenants, including engaging in drug distribution, violent criminal activity, and domestic violence...
The Secretary of Transportation shall ... determine whether conditions exist in federally-funded transit services in the District of Columbia that endanger transit workers, and take appropriate remedial action...
The Attorney General shall review the Metropolitan Police Department General Orders and shall request that the Mayor ... updates and modifications ... necessary to address the crime emergency and ensure public order and safety...
CRIME EMERGENCY IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Executive Orders
White House | August 25, 2025
... The Director of the National Park Service {Interior!!} shall ... hire additional members of the United States Park Police in the District of Columbia to ... ensure enforcement of all applicable laws within their jurisdiction ...
... The United States Attorney for the District of Columbia shall ... hire additional prosecutors to focus on prosecuting violent and property crimes.
... The D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force ... shall establish an online portal for Americans with law enforcement or other relevant backgrounds and experience to apply to join Federal law enforcement entities ..
... The Secretary of Defense shall, subject to the availability of appropriations and applicable law, immediately create ... a specialized unit within the District of Columbia National Guard ... that is dedicated to ensuring public safety and order in the Nation’s capital.
... The Secretary of Defense shall immediately begin ensuring that each State’s Army National Guard and Air National Guard are ... available to assist Federal, State, and local law enforcement in quelling civil disturbances and ensuring the public safety and order ... the Secretary of Defense shall designate an appropriate number of each State’s trained National Guard members to be reasonably available for rapid mobilization for such purposes... the Secretary of Defense shall ensure the availability of a standing National Guard quick reaction force ... for rapid nationwide deployment.
The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) shall investigate any non-compliance with the crime-prevention and safety requirements of HUD agreements ... include consideration of the provisions of such agreements that require housing providers to maintain safe, decent, and sanitary conditions or to restrict tenants who engage in criminal activity that threatens health, safety, and the right to peaceful enjoyment for other tenants, including engaging in drug distribution, violent criminal activity, and domestic violence...
The Secretary of Transportation shall ... determine whether conditions exist in federally-funded transit services in the District of Columbia that endanger transit workers, and take appropriate remedial action...
The Attorney General shall review the Metropolitan Police Department General Orders and shall request that the Mayor ... updates and modifications ... necessary to address the crime emergency and ensure public order and safety...
80margd
Where’s Your Evidence, Mr. President?
NYT Editorial Board | Aug. 26, 2025
President Trump’s attempt to fire the Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook is a grab for power in defiance of the nation’s laws, and if it succeeds, it will be to the detriment of the nation’s interests ...
... In the absence of any finding of wrongdoing by a judge — or even presenting evidence to one — Mr. Trump is effectively asserting that the president gets to decide what counts as cause, which would render the standard meaningless. If the courts allow him to get away with it, the Fed will be stripped of its insulation from political pressure. Mr. Trump will be able to bully the central bank into delivering the economic sugar highs he craves, and we will all suffer the eventual consequences...
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/opinion/politics/trump-fed-independence-lisa-...
NYT Editorial Board | Aug. 26, 2025
President Trump’s attempt to fire the Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook is a grab for power in defiance of the nation’s laws, and if it succeeds, it will be to the detriment of the nation’s interests ...
... In the absence of any finding of wrongdoing by a judge — or even presenting evidence to one — Mr. Trump is effectively asserting that the president gets to decide what counts as cause, which would render the standard meaningless. If the courts allow him to get away with it, the Fed will be stripped of its insulation from political pressure. Mr. Trump will be able to bully the central bank into delivering the economic sugar highs he craves, and we will all suffer the eventual consequences...
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/opinion/politics/trump-fed-independence-lisa-...
81margd
>80 margd: contd. Interesting, misrepresentation to obtain good rates on bank loans is precisely the offense that made Trump a felon... Also government targetting of Trump's political foes is arguably worse offense than that foes are accused of...
NOT LYING DOWN
Furious Trump’s Firing of Fed’s Lisa Cook May Be About to Backfire
Greg Sargent | August 26, 2025
The fired Fed governor has filed suit against Trump—and the discovery process may allow her celebrated lawyer to find out if the White House ordered a Trump loyalist to move against her.
... Trump’s letter firing Cook claims he can do this for cause “at my discretion,” meaning he gets to declare something “cause” by simply saying so, as The New York Times’s Charlie Savage notes. The courts will decide whether the executive power includes this nearly limitless authority, and while Supreme Court precedent here is complex, a win for Trump is not at all assured.
Enter Trump’s accomplices. The “cause” he cited is the charge that Cook committed mortgage fraud, a claim manufactured for him by William Pulte, a staunch Trump loyalist who heads the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees mortgage markets. Pulte tweeted “findings” that Cook has fraudulently declared several principal or primary residences for mortgage purposes.
Tellingly, Pulte has done a similar maneuver for other Trump foes like Senator Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James, both Democrats. They’ve all denied wrongdoing, but all three have been referred to the Justice Department for prosecution.
The real question this raises is: Why is Pulte scrutinizing mortgages that just happen to belong to many high-profile opponents of Trump, and how did he come to select these targets? Experts recently told me that this use of the FHFA mortgage-fraud process appears highly suspect at best. When a Washington Post reporter asked FHFA to identify the procedural basis for Pulte to single out these targets, she received no answer.
Pulte is apparently manipulating agency processes for the express purpose of creating a pretext for referring matters involving Trump’s designated enemies to DOJ. As Georgetown law professor Adam Levitin points out, it’s probable that the only way the mortgages of three leading Trump foes could all face scrutiny is if Pulte personally ordered it. That’s an “abuse of office,” Levitin writes, and a “far greater offense” than anything Cook, Schiff, or James might have done... Pulte should be pressed on whether the White House was directly involved in the decision to single out those three for examination...
https://newrepublic.com/article/199612/furious-trump-firing-fed-lisa-cook-may-ba...
NOT LYING DOWN
Furious Trump’s Firing of Fed’s Lisa Cook May Be About to Backfire
Greg Sargent | August 26, 2025
The fired Fed governor has filed suit against Trump—and the discovery process may allow her celebrated lawyer to find out if the White House ordered a Trump loyalist to move against her.
... Trump’s letter firing Cook claims he can do this for cause “at my discretion,” meaning he gets to declare something “cause” by simply saying so, as The New York Times’s Charlie Savage notes. The courts will decide whether the executive power includes this nearly limitless authority, and while Supreme Court precedent here is complex, a win for Trump is not at all assured.
Enter Trump’s accomplices. The “cause” he cited is the charge that Cook committed mortgage fraud, a claim manufactured for him by William Pulte, a staunch Trump loyalist who heads the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees mortgage markets. Pulte tweeted “findings” that Cook has fraudulently declared several principal or primary residences for mortgage purposes.
Tellingly, Pulte has done a similar maneuver for other Trump foes like Senator Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James, both Democrats. They’ve all denied wrongdoing, but all three have been referred to the Justice Department for prosecution.
The real question this raises is: Why is Pulte scrutinizing mortgages that just happen to belong to many high-profile opponents of Trump, and how did he come to select these targets? Experts recently told me that this use of the FHFA mortgage-fraud process appears highly suspect at best. When a Washington Post reporter asked FHFA to identify the procedural basis for Pulte to single out these targets, she received no answer.
Pulte is apparently manipulating agency processes for the express purpose of creating a pretext for referring matters involving Trump’s designated enemies to DOJ. As Georgetown law professor Adam Levitin points out, it’s probable that the only way the mortgages of three leading Trump foes could all face scrutiny is if Pulte personally ordered it. That’s an “abuse of office,” Levitin writes, and a “far greater offense” than anything Cook, Schiff, or James might have done... Pulte should be pressed on whether the White House was directly involved in the decision to single out those three for examination...
https://newrepublic.com/article/199612/furious-trump-firing-fed-lisa-cook-may-ba...
82margd
>81 margd: Upcoming (?): more govt targeting of Trump's political "enemies".
Bloomberg News @bloomberg.com | August 27, 2025 at 12:30 PM:
Trump said that philanthropist George Soros and his son should be charged with racketeering for allegedly supporting violent protests “and much more,” without citing any evidence
Trump Says Soros Should Be Charged Over ‘Violent Protests’
President Donald Trump said that philanthropist George Soros and his son should be charged with racketeering for allegedly supporting violent protests “and much more,” without citing any evidence.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-27/trump-says-soros-should-be-ch...
Bloomberg News @bloomberg.com | August 27, 2025 at 12:30 PM:
Trump said that philanthropist George Soros and his son should be charged with racketeering for allegedly supporting violent protests “and much more,” without citing any evidence
Trump Says Soros Should Be Charged Over ‘Violent Protests’
President Donald Trump said that philanthropist George Soros and his son should be charged with racketeering for allegedly supporting violent protests “and much more,” without citing any evidence.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-27/trump-says-soros-should-be-ch...
83margd
>75 margd:, contd. $
DOT secretary says agency will ‘take over’ Washington’s Union Station, building it already owns
Pavan Acharya | 08/27/2025
... Though {Transportation Secretary Sea} Duffy’s pitch is aimed at cleaning up crime, homelessness and grime, the real prize for President Donald Trump, who has been eager to redevelop all manner of federal properties, may be what’s buried in DOT’s accompanying announcement — a desire to “leverage {Union Station’s} valuable commercial aspects.”
Duffy said he believes DOT’s takeover will increase the station’s income and entice more development and investments in the building as a result. In its reasoning for the change, DOT said it expects “improved security” will also play a role in drawing in more private investors for a “potential expansion of the station.”
Union Station is owned by the Federal Railroad Administration, a subagency of DOT. For many years, the station’s retail concessions were leased to a private company. Last year, Amtrak, which operates a hub at Union Station, seized that contract through eminent domain, with an eye toward moving forward an ambitious $7 billion plan to redevelop the station, including residential and office space and even a hotel. But that plan was never formally capitalized...
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/27/transportation-department-union-station...
DOT secretary says agency will ‘take over’ Washington’s Union Station, building it already owns
Pavan Acharya | 08/27/2025
... Though {Transportation Secretary Sea} Duffy’s pitch is aimed at cleaning up crime, homelessness and grime, the real prize for President Donald Trump, who has been eager to redevelop all manner of federal properties, may be what’s buried in DOT’s accompanying announcement — a desire to “leverage {Union Station’s} valuable commercial aspects.”
Duffy said he believes DOT’s takeover will increase the station’s income and entice more development and investments in the building as a result. In its reasoning for the change, DOT said it expects “improved security” will also play a role in drawing in more private investors for a “potential expansion of the station.”
Union Station is owned by the Federal Railroad Administration, a subagency of DOT. For many years, the station’s retail concessions were leased to a private company. Last year, Amtrak, which operates a hub at Union Station, seized that contract through eminent domain, with an eye toward moving forward an ambitious $7 billion plan to redevelop the station, including residential and office space and even a hotel. But that plan was never formally capitalized...
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/27/transportation-department-union-station...
84margd
Explicit? Try "none".
The New York Times @nytimes.com | August 31, 2025
President Trump said late Saturday that he would issue an executive order to require voter identification for all U.S. elections, a continuation of his efforts to overhaul the nation’s election laws, which he has long attacked and falsely blamed for his 2020 election loss.
Trump Says He Will Sign Executive Order Mandating Voter I.D.
He also wants to restrict mail-in voting and allow only paper ballots. The Constitution doesn’t give the president explicit authority over election law.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/us/politics/trump-voter-id-executive-order.ht...
The New York Times @nytimes.com | August 31, 2025
President Trump said late Saturday that he would issue an executive order to require voter identification for all U.S. elections, a continuation of his efforts to overhaul the nation’s election laws, which he has long attacked and falsely blamed for his 2020 election loss.
Trump Says He Will Sign Executive Order Mandating Voter I.D.
He also wants to restrict mail-in voting and allow only paper ballots. The Constitution doesn’t give the president explicit authority over election law.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/us/politics/trump-voter-id-executive-order.ht...
85margd
Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social | September 2, 2025 at 9:24 AM
Senior Editor, Lawfaremedia.org.
BREAKING: Judge Charles Breyer finds that the Trump administration violated the Posse Comitatus Act by using the military for domestic law enforcement purpose in Los Angeles.
He enjoins further violations of the Posse Comitatus Act ⬇️
{52 p} https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.450934/gov.uscourts.ca...
{First page} https://bsky.app/profile/annabower.bsky.social/post/3lxu7oayars2m
The injunction is stayed until 12:00 noon on Friday, September 12
{Last page} https://bsky.app/profile/annabower.bsky.social/post/3lxu7oayars2m
__________________________________________
Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net | September 2, 2025 at 10:20 AM:
Clinical Instructor, Harvard Law Cyberlaw Clinic.
Violating the posse comitatus act is a felony by the way. Hegseth has criminal liability here. Trump doesn't thanks to the Supreme Court. Not like anyone will actually prosecute them anyways.
Senior Editor, Lawfaremedia.org.
BREAKING: Judge Charles Breyer finds that the Trump administration violated the Posse Comitatus Act by using the military for domestic law enforcement purpose in Los Angeles.
He enjoins further violations of the Posse Comitatus Act ⬇️
{52 p} https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.450934/gov.uscourts.ca...
{First page} https://bsky.app/profile/annabower.bsky.social/post/3lxu7oayars2m
The injunction is stayed until 12:00 noon on Friday, September 12
{Last page} https://bsky.app/profile/annabower.bsky.social/post/3lxu7oayars2m
__________________________________________
Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net | September 2, 2025 at 10:20 AM:
Clinical Instructor, Harvard Law Cyberlaw Clinic.
Violating the posse comitatus act is a felony by the way. Hegseth has criminal liability here. Trump doesn't thanks to the Supreme Court. Not like anyone will actually prosecute them anyways.
86margd
>85 margd:, contd.
Ed Krassenstein @EdKrassen | 11:45 AM · Sep 2, 2025: {X.com}
AI & Crypto futurist.
Actually, the cities with the highest murder rates in America are all in Republican led states, yet Trump isn’t sending the National Guard into these cities:
1) Jackson, Mississippi - ~77.2 per 100K
2) Birmingham, Alabama - ~59 per 100K
3) St. Louis, Missouri - ~40 per 100K
4) Memphis, Tennessee - ~40 per 100K
5) New Orleans, Louisiana - ~40-50 per 100K
The murder rate in Chicago is ~21.4 per 100K. Los Angeles is ~8.4 per 100K.
It's all political theater.
A screenshot of a social media post by Donald J. Trump. The post includes a profile image of Donald J. Trump with an American flag background. Text reads
"CHICAGO IS THE MURDER CAPITAL OF THE WORLD!" in uppercase letters.
Ed Krassenstein @EdKrassen | 11:45 AM · Sep 2, 2025: {X.com}
AI & Crypto futurist.
Actually, the cities with the highest murder rates in America are all in Republican led states, yet Trump isn’t sending the National Guard into these cities:
1) Jackson, Mississippi - ~77.2 per 100K
2) Birmingham, Alabama - ~59 per 100K
3) St. Louis, Missouri - ~40 per 100K
4) Memphis, Tennessee - ~40 per 100K
5) New Orleans, Louisiana - ~40-50 per 100K
The murder rate in Chicago is ~21.4 per 100K. Los Angeles is ~8.4 per 100K.
It's all political theater.
A screenshot of a social media post by Donald J. Trump. The post includes a profile image of Donald J. Trump with an American flag background. Text reads
"CHICAGO IS THE MURDER CAPITAL OF THE WORLD!" in uppercase letters.
87margd
>85 margd: contd.
Laurence H. Tribe @tribelaw.bsky.social | September 3, 2025 at 4:44 AM:
32 USC § 502(f)(2) would violate Article IV of the Constitution if applied to support deployment of un-federalized out-of-state National Guard troops into a state that didn’t want those troops there, as with Trump’s proposed use of the Texas National Guard to invade Illinois
-------------------------------------------------
32 U.S. Code § 502 - Required drills and field exercises
(f)(2) The training or duty ordered to be performed under paragraph (1) may include the following:
(A) Support of operations or missions undertaken by the member’s unit at the request of the President or Secretary of Defense.
(B) Support of training operations and training missions assigned in whole or in part to the National Guard by the Secretary concerned, but only to the extent that such training missions and training operations—
(i) are performed in the United States or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or possessions of the United States; and
(ii) are only to instruct active duty military, foreign military (under the same authorities and restrictions applicable to active duty troops), Department of Defense contractor personnel, or Department of Defense civilian employees.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/32/502
-------------------------------------------------
Constitution of the United States
Article IV
Section 3. ...The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.
Section 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.
https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/article-4/
-------------------------------------------------
Section 502(f) Is Not a Blank Check
Joseph Nunn | October 17, 2024
The statute provides the National Guard with more flexibility—but the use of unfederalized troops for operational missions has its limits.
... In 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast and exposed disastrous shortcomings in the federal government’s ability to respond to natural disasters. The next year, Congress responded to both of these problems by further expanding the potential nontraining uses of § 502(f)
... The newly added subsection (f)(2)(A), which authorizes National Guard support of federal operations or missions “at the request of the President or Secretary of Defense,” was undoubtedly meant to simplify and ease the process by which National Guard forces could perform domestic operational missions under Title 32. However, although the legislative history for the 2006 amendment does not clearly identify the exact bounds of what Congress intended to authorize, it does suggest that Congress was concerned primarily with facilitating homeland defense activities already authorized elsewhere in Title 32 as well as the National Guard’s traditional role in responding to natural disasters like Katrina.
... There is no doubt that Congress meant for the 2006 amendments to § 502(f) to widen the scope of the activities it authorizes. Even so, it seems extraordinarily unlikely that Congress would have buried within a section of the U.S. Code that is primarily concerned with National Guard training requirements an open-ended authorization for American military forces to participate in domestic law enforcement activities at the behest of the president, notwithstanding the Posse Comitatus Act and without reliance on the Insurrection Act. Indeed, that would be the very definition of “hiding an elephant in a mousehole.” ...
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/section-502(f)-is-not-a-blank-check
Laurence H. Tribe @tribelaw.bsky.social | September 3, 2025 at 4:44 AM:
32 USC § 502(f)(2) would violate Article IV of the Constitution if applied to support deployment of un-federalized out-of-state National Guard troops into a state that didn’t want those troops there, as with Trump’s proposed use of the Texas National Guard to invade Illinois
-------------------------------------------------
32 U.S. Code § 502 - Required drills and field exercises
(f)(2) The training or duty ordered to be performed under paragraph (1) may include the following:
(A) Support of operations or missions undertaken by the member’s unit at the request of the President or Secretary of Defense.
(B) Support of training operations and training missions assigned in whole or in part to the National Guard by the Secretary concerned, but only to the extent that such training missions and training operations—
(i) are performed in the United States or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or possessions of the United States; and
(ii) are only to instruct active duty military, foreign military (under the same authorities and restrictions applicable to active duty troops), Department of Defense contractor personnel, or Department of Defense civilian employees.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/32/502
-------------------------------------------------
Constitution of the United States
Article IV
Section 3. ...The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.
Section 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.
https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/article-4/
-------------------------------------------------
Section 502(f) Is Not a Blank Check
Joseph Nunn | October 17, 2024
The statute provides the National Guard with more flexibility—but the use of unfederalized troops for operational missions has its limits.
... In 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast and exposed disastrous shortcomings in the federal government’s ability to respond to natural disasters. The next year, Congress responded to both of these problems by further expanding the potential nontraining uses of § 502(f)
... The newly added subsection (f)(2)(A), which authorizes National Guard support of federal operations or missions “at the request of the President or Secretary of Defense,” was undoubtedly meant to simplify and ease the process by which National Guard forces could perform domestic operational missions under Title 32. However, although the legislative history for the 2006 amendment does not clearly identify the exact bounds of what Congress intended to authorize, it does suggest that Congress was concerned primarily with facilitating homeland defense activities already authorized elsewhere in Title 32 as well as the National Guard’s traditional role in responding to natural disasters like Katrina.
... There is no doubt that Congress meant for the 2006 amendments to § 502(f) to widen the scope of the activities it authorizes. Even so, it seems extraordinarily unlikely that Congress would have buried within a section of the U.S. Code that is primarily concerned with National Guard training requirements an open-ended authorization for American military forces to participate in domestic law enforcement activities at the behest of the president, notwithstanding the Posse Comitatus Act and without reliance on the Insurrection Act. Indeed, that would be the very definition of “hiding an elephant in a mousehole.” ...
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/section-502(f)-is-not-a-blank-check
88margd
Look for China to now blow up Philippino fishing boats which venture into contested waters?
The New York Times @nytimes.com | September 4, 2025 at 10:05 PM: {bsky.app}
News Analysis: By ordering the U.S. military to summarily kill a group of people aboard what he said was a drug-smuggling boat, President Trump used the military in a way that had no clear legal precedent or basis, according to specialists in the laws of war and executive power.
Trump Claims the Power to Summarily Kill Suspected Drug Smugglers
The move to treat criminals as if they were wartime combatants escalated an administration pattern of using military force for law enforcement tasks at home and abroad.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/04/us/politics/trump-drug-smugglers-military.htm...
The New York Times @nytimes.com | September 4, 2025 at 10:05 PM: {bsky.app}
News Analysis: By ordering the U.S. military to summarily kill a group of people aboard what he said was a drug-smuggling boat, President Trump used the military in a way that had no clear legal precedent or basis, according to specialists in the laws of war and executive power.
Trump Claims the Power to Summarily Kill Suspected Drug Smugglers
The move to treat criminals as if they were wartime combatants escalated an administration pattern of using military force for law enforcement tasks at home and abroad.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/04/us/politics/trump-drug-smugglers-military.htm...
89John5918
The golden rule of Trump and Farage’s free speech crusade: they’re allowed to chat rubbish – you’re not (Guardian)
The Reform leader has been in the US, bemoaning Britain’s ‘awful authoritarian situation’. It’s a shame about his party’s own anti-media huff back home... Still, no one on this Earth is having it both ways harder than Trump. No offence, but do we really have to take lectures on free speech from a country where his administration recently wrote a letter to the Smithsonian mandating a review of some of its museums and exhibits “in accordance with Executive Order 14253, Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History”? This compulsory review, they added, was “to ensure alignment with the President’s directive” that museums say the things he wants them to say. Do we really have to take it from a country where universities are threatened with being defunded because they aren’t teaching in the way he wants them to teach? Do we really have to take it from a country where the president attacks the press at every possible opportunity and frequently seeks to weaken it? Do we really have to take it from a country with a leader who openly admires a whole array of grim dictators who have eliminated free speech in their countries? Do we really have to take it from a country with book bans? Not to be a bad sport, but I rather think we don’t...
90margd
Senior Democrat says Pentagon didn’t present conclusive evidence alleged drug smugglers killed in strike were gang members
Natasha Bertrand, Zachary Cohen | 11 Sept 2025
“{DOD} have offered no positive identification that the boat was Venezuelan, nor that its crew were members of Tren de Aragua or any other cartel,” Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on Tuesday after his staff were briefed by DoD.
... could not determine exactly where the targets were headed
... the boat turned around at one point after appearing to spot a military aircraft above that had been watching them...
... {no} intelligence that the individuals were armed combatants or posed a imminent threat to US forces ...
https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/11/politics/senior-democrat-pentagon-strike-gang-mem...
-----------------------------------------
Experts skeptical of legality of Trump’s strike on alleged drug boat
Katie Bo Lillis, Natasha Bertrand, Zachary Cohen | Sep 6, 2025
... The president has the authority under Article II of the Constitution to use military force when it is in the national interest, and when it does not amount to “war” in the constitutional sense, which requires an act of Congress. Past administrations have interpreted these standards fairly broadly — especially in the decadeslong war against al Qaeda, ISIS and other evolving Islamist terror groups — and Trump officials have also claimed the president was exercising his inherent Article II powers here.
... there is a wrinkle: That amorphous power still requires that the president establish that its targets are legitimate military targets who should be treated as combatants under both international and domestic law. Cartel members and drug smugglers have traditionally been treated as criminals with due process rights — not enemy combatants — and the Trump administration has yet to offer a justification beyond the FTO defense that it is in a state of armed conflict with Tren de Aragua.
... {Brian Finucane, a former State Department lawyer who specializes in war powers issues} and others pointed to Rubio’s admission that the boat could have been interdicted rather than destroyed — as has been done in the past — but that the president ordered a lethal strike as a matter of first, not last, resort.
... perhaps most importantly, experts and congressional aides said, the administration so far has provided few factual details about the 11 people on the boat that would support their assessment that they were a legitimate military target.
... Rubio and Trump offered conflicting assessments of where the boat was heading — ... Trinidad or another Caribbean country ... the US.
... International law prohibits the deliberate killing of civilians, even in the context of an armed conflict. Domestic law, meanwhile, prohibits unilateral and premeditated killings of non-military targets... Finucane ... "murder"...
https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/06/politics/venezuela-boat-strike-trump-legality
Natasha Bertrand, Zachary Cohen | 11 Sept 2025
“{DOD} have offered no positive identification that the boat was Venezuelan, nor that its crew were members of Tren de Aragua or any other cartel,” Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on Tuesday after his staff were briefed by DoD.
... could not determine exactly where the targets were headed
... the boat turned around at one point after appearing to spot a military aircraft above that had been watching them...
... {no} intelligence that the individuals were armed combatants or posed a imminent threat to US forces ...
https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/11/politics/senior-democrat-pentagon-strike-gang-mem...
-----------------------------------------
Experts skeptical of legality of Trump’s strike on alleged drug boat
Katie Bo Lillis, Natasha Bertrand, Zachary Cohen | Sep 6, 2025
... The president has the authority under Article II of the Constitution to use military force when it is in the national interest, and when it does not amount to “war” in the constitutional sense, which requires an act of Congress. Past administrations have interpreted these standards fairly broadly — especially in the decadeslong war against al Qaeda, ISIS and other evolving Islamist terror groups — and Trump officials have also claimed the president was exercising his inherent Article II powers here.
... there is a wrinkle: That amorphous power still requires that the president establish that its targets are legitimate military targets who should be treated as combatants under both international and domestic law. Cartel members and drug smugglers have traditionally been treated as criminals with due process rights — not enemy combatants — and the Trump administration has yet to offer a justification beyond the FTO defense that it is in a state of armed conflict with Tren de Aragua.
... {Brian Finucane, a former State Department lawyer who specializes in war powers issues} and others pointed to Rubio’s admission that the boat could have been interdicted rather than destroyed — as has been done in the past — but that the president ordered a lethal strike as a matter of first, not last, resort.
... perhaps most importantly, experts and congressional aides said, the administration so far has provided few factual details about the 11 people on the boat that would support their assessment that they were a legitimate military target.
... Rubio and Trump offered conflicting assessments of where the boat was heading — ... Trinidad or another Caribbean country ... the US.
... International law prohibits the deliberate killing of civilians, even in the context of an armed conflict. Domestic law, meanwhile, prohibits unilateral and premeditated killings of non-military targets... Finucane ... "murder"...
https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/06/politics/venezuela-boat-strike-trump-legality
912wonderY
Just a small example of Trump justice
Jonathan Braun
Drug dealer whose sentence was commuted by Trump found guilty of violating terms of his release
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/drug-dealer-sentence-was-commuted-trump-gui...
Jonathan Braun had been accused of menacing a hospital nurse and a fellow synagogue member on two separate incidents, as well as of groping his family's nanny and evading bridge tolls
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DOggJNtje6t/?igsh=aW9vaGoyd2JhNmdx
I’m curious if Trump acts for him again.
Jonathan Braun
Drug dealer whose sentence was commuted by Trump found guilty of violating terms of his release
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/drug-dealer-sentence-was-commuted-trump-gui...
Jonathan Braun had been accused of menacing a hospital nurse and a fellow synagogue member on two separate incidents, as well as of groping his family's nanny and evading bridge tolls
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DOggJNtje6t/?igsh=aW9vaGoyd2JhNmdx
I’m curious if Trump acts for him again.
92margd
1st Amendment ...
New Bill Would Give Marco Rubio “Thought Police” Power to Revoke U.S. Passports
Matt Sledge | September 13 2025
Rubio has already sought to punish immigrants for speech. New legislation might let him do it for U.S. citizens.
... a bill introduced by the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee ... Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., as part of a larger State Department reorganization, is set for a hearing Wednesday.
Mast’s legislation says that it takes aim at “terrorists and traffickers,” but critics say it could be used to deny American citizens the right to travel based solely on their speech.
.. Seth Stern, the director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation, said the bill would open the door to “thought policing at the hands of one individual.”
... section sidesteps the legal process entirely. ... the secretary of state would be able to deny passports to people whom they determine “has knowingly aided, assisted, abetted, or otherwise provided material support to an organization the Secretary has designated as a foreign terrorist organization.”
The reference to “material support” disturbed advocates who have long warned that the government can misuse statutes criminalizing “material support” for terrorists — first passed after the 1996 Oklahoma City federal building bombing and toughened after the 9/11 attacks — to punish speech.
... Since the October 7 Hamas attacks, pro-Israel lawmakers and activists have ratcheted up attempts to expand the scope and use of anti-terror laws.
... Lawmakers also tried to pass a “nonprofit killer” bill that would allow the Treasury secretary to strip groups of their charitable status if they are deemed a “terrorist-supporting organization.” The bill was beaten back by a coalition of nonprofit groups, most recently during the debate over the so-called Big, Beautiful Bill...
https://theintercept.com/2025/09/13/marco-rubio-revoke-us-passports-terrorism/
New Bill Would Give Marco Rubio “Thought Police” Power to Revoke U.S. Passports
Matt Sledge | September 13 2025
Rubio has already sought to punish immigrants for speech. New legislation might let him do it for U.S. citizens.
... a bill introduced by the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee ... Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., as part of a larger State Department reorganization, is set for a hearing Wednesday.
Mast’s legislation says that it takes aim at “terrorists and traffickers,” but critics say it could be used to deny American citizens the right to travel based solely on their speech.
.. Seth Stern, the director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation, said the bill would open the door to “thought policing at the hands of one individual.”
... section sidesteps the legal process entirely. ... the secretary of state would be able to deny passports to people whom they determine “has knowingly aided, assisted, abetted, or otherwise provided material support to an organization the Secretary has designated as a foreign terrorist organization.”
The reference to “material support” disturbed advocates who have long warned that the government can misuse statutes criminalizing “material support” for terrorists — first passed after the 1996 Oklahoma City federal building bombing and toughened after the 9/11 attacks — to punish speech.
... Since the October 7 Hamas attacks, pro-Israel lawmakers and activists have ratcheted up attempts to expand the scope and use of anti-terror laws.
... Lawmakers also tried to pass a “nonprofit killer” bill that would allow the Treasury secretary to strip groups of their charitable status if they are deemed a “terrorist-supporting organization.” The bill was beaten back by a coalition of nonprofit groups, most recently during the debate over the so-called Big, Beautiful Bill...
https://theintercept.com/2025/09/13/marco-rubio-revoke-us-passports-terrorism/
93margd
Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social | September 15, 2025 at 12:21 PM:
Policy Professor, Ford School, University of Michigan.
"Civil service laws requiring that employees can only be removed for cause have not been repealed. This is a good demonstration as to why they exist.
No evidence that she was anything other than a stellar performer, being removed at the behest of Laura Loomer b/c she is James Comey's daughter."
"The New York Times @nytimes.com · 2h
Breaking News: Maurene Comey, a federal prosecutor who handled criminal cases against Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, sued the government over her abrupt July firing."
"Fired Prosecutor Challenges Trump’s Claims to Power in Lawsuit
The Justice Department gave no reason for its dismissal of Maurene Comey, a longtime federal prosecutor in Manhattan and the daughter of the former F.B.I. director, James Comey.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/15/nyregion/maurene-comey-fired-lawsuit-trump.ht..."
Policy Professor, Ford School, University of Michigan.
"Civil service laws requiring that employees can only be removed for cause have not been repealed. This is a good demonstration as to why they exist.
No evidence that she was anything other than a stellar performer, being removed at the behest of Laura Loomer b/c she is James Comey's daughter."
"The New York Times @nytimes.com · 2h
Breaking News: Maurene Comey, a federal prosecutor who handled criminal cases against Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, sued the government over her abrupt July firing."
"Fired Prosecutor Challenges Trump’s Claims to Power in Lawsuit
The Justice Department gave no reason for its dismissal of Maurene Comey, a longtime federal prosecutor in Manhattan and the daughter of the former F.B.I. director, James Comey.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/15/nyregion/maurene-comey-fired-lawsuit-trump.ht..."
94margd
>93 margd: contd.
Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 18m
Policy Professor, Ford School, University of Michigan.
"The federal government employees being purged are also, presumably, civil servants with for cause protection. But none of this matters. The top lawyer at FEMA just resigned rather than participate in a likely illegal purge."
"Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 38m
One FEMA staffer was put on leave as a result of an Instagram comment about Charlie Kirk. It appears Laura Loomer was given a heads up about the firing.
Here's Loomer on Thursday, three days before the employee received his notice of termination (which results in admin leave and 30 days to appeal):
Laura Loomer @LauraLoomer BREAKING: I’ve just been notified by a source at DHS that following my expose, Gavin Sylvia was not only put on administrative leave, but he will also be FIRED. @DHSgov
Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 18m
Policy Professor, Ford School, University of Michigan.
"The federal government employees being purged are also, presumably, civil servants with for cause protection. But none of this matters. The top lawyer at FEMA just resigned rather than participate in a likely illegal purge."
"Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 38m
One FEMA staffer was put on leave as a result of an Instagram comment about Charlie Kirk. It appears Laura Loomer was given a heads up about the firing.
Here's Loomer on Thursday, three days before the employee received his notice of termination (which results in admin leave and 30 days to appeal):
Laura Loomer @LauraLoomer BREAKING: I’ve just been notified by a source at DHS that following my expose, Gavin Sylvia was not only put on administrative leave, but he will also be FIRED. @DHSgov
95John5918
Since WWII, it’s been taboo to force nations to cede land after war. Russia wants to normalise conquest again (The Conversation)
A frequent question around peace talks over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is whether Ukraine should give up land as part of an interim or final settlement... Indeed, Trump has aligned himself with many Russian officials on territorial concessions, including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who has said history has many examples of peace agreements that shift borders. It is important to debunk this notion. Acquisition of territory through war has, in fact, been taboo since the end of the second world war and the establishment of the United Nations. While there have been many military conflicts, there are no evident examples of a UN member country ceding recognised, independent territory to another UN member following a war or invasion... Until the early 20th century, territorial concessions were the norm after wars, backed by all sorts of narratives about hereditary rights, ancient borders, superior civilisations, punishments for unpaid debts or simple law of the jungle... But in the broader zeitgeist, it was time to put an end to wars of conquest. This was articulated in Article 2 of the UN Charter, which requires states to refrain from the use of force against the “territorial integrity or political independence” of any other state. The principle was further cemented in UN Security Council resolution 242 following the 1967 Arab-Israeli Six-Day War, which decrees that acquisition of territory following war cannot be accepted... Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the most blatant attempt to conquer independent territory was Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s invasion and annexation of Kuwait. This was repelled by a UN-sanctioned force...
97margd
The New York Times @nytimes | 1:36 AM · Sep 20, 2025 {X.com}
Breaking News: The Pentagon said it would require journalists to pledge not to use unauthorized information or risk losing credentials to cover the military.
{Paywall} https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/business/media/pentagon-restrictions-reporter...
Breaking News: The Pentagon said it would require journalists to pledge not to use unauthorized information or risk losing credentials to cover the military.
{Paywall} https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/business/media/pentagon-restrictions-reporter...
98margd
A Rogue Nation on the High Seas
Trump is treating the military like his personal mercenaries.
Tom Nichols
"... No one in the White House seems to care very much about the rules that govern killing people, at home or abroad, but these rules actually exist. International law allows interdicting contraband—drugs, weapons, captured human beings—under many circumstances, and countries execute such missions legally every day. These activities require great care to limit the danger to the military and the loss of civilian life, including diligently identifying suspect vessels, warning them to stop, and sometimes boarding them to identify and seize their cargo."
"Military ships can engage these targets in combat under limited conditions. If they open fire on American vessels, for example, no one would deny that they’re signing their own death warrant. But in general, when states want to initiate the use of force in the international arena, their arguments are subject to what international law calls “the Caroline test,” an 1837 case that led the U.S. to agree that to employ force, a threat must be “instant, overwhelming, leaving no choice of means, and no moment of deliberation.” This is an elegant way of saying that nations can use violence in self-defense when they have neither the time nor ability to do anything else. What constitutes an “imminent” threat is an ongoing debate among international lawyers, but the recent Venezuela strikes do not appear to fall even remotely under any of this doctrine..."
{Gift} https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/09/rogue-nation-high-seas/684272/...
Trump is treating the military like his personal mercenaries.
Tom Nichols
"... No one in the White House seems to care very much about the rules that govern killing people, at home or abroad, but these rules actually exist. International law allows interdicting contraband—drugs, weapons, captured human beings—under many circumstances, and countries execute such missions legally every day. These activities require great care to limit the danger to the military and the loss of civilian life, including diligently identifying suspect vessels, warning them to stop, and sometimes boarding them to identify and seize their cargo."
"Military ships can engage these targets in combat under limited conditions. If they open fire on American vessels, for example, no one would deny that they’re signing their own death warrant. But in general, when states want to initiate the use of force in the international arena, their arguments are subject to what international law calls “the Caroline test,” an 1837 case that led the U.S. to agree that to employ force, a threat must be “instant, overwhelming, leaving no choice of means, and no moment of deliberation.” This is an elegant way of saying that nations can use violence in self-defense when they have neither the time nor ability to do anything else. What constitutes an “imminent” threat is an ongoing debate among international lawyers, but the recent Venezuela strikes do not appear to fall even remotely under any of this doctrine..."
{Gift} https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/09/rogue-nation-high-seas/684272/...
99margd
‘We can’t delay any longer’: Trump urges Bondi to prosecute his rivals
Kyle Cheney | 09/20/2025
"President Donald Trump publicly vented at Attorney General Pam Bondi on Saturday, saying the lack of criminal charges against top adversaries was “killing our reputation and credibility.”
“We can’t delay any longer,” Trump posted on Truth Social in a message* directed to “Pam.” “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!” He specifically lamented the lack of criminal charges against Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, three of his most prominent political antagonists.
Trump spent much of the post venting about Erik Siebert, the former U.S. attorney from the Eastern District of Virginia, who he forced out Friday amid reports that Siebert did not believe there was enough evidence to charge James with mortgage fraud.
... appeared to float his onetime personal attorney Lindsey Halligan — now a White House aide who has been reviewing materials in the Smithsonian museums to ensure they align with Trump’s agenda — to take on a role in the probes of his adversaries.
It was a remarkable public message to the nation’s top law enforcement officer, linking his personal grievances over his own criminal prosecutions and congressional impeachments to a potential decision by federal prosecutors to level criminal charges against his adversaries..."
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/20/trump-bondi-truth-social-00574380
* https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115239044548033727
Kyle Cheney | 09/20/2025
"President Donald Trump publicly vented at Attorney General Pam Bondi on Saturday, saying the lack of criminal charges against top adversaries was “killing our reputation and credibility.”
“We can’t delay any longer,” Trump posted on Truth Social in a message* directed to “Pam.” “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!” He specifically lamented the lack of criminal charges against Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, three of his most prominent political antagonists.
Trump spent much of the post venting about Erik Siebert, the former U.S. attorney from the Eastern District of Virginia, who he forced out Friday amid reports that Siebert did not believe there was enough evidence to charge James with mortgage fraud.
... appeared to float his onetime personal attorney Lindsey Halligan — now a White House aide who has been reviewing materials in the Smithsonian museums to ensure they align with Trump’s agenda — to take on a role in the probes of his adversaries.
It was a remarkable public message to the nation’s top law enforcement officer, linking his personal grievances over his own criminal prosecutions and congressional impeachments to a potential decision by federal prosecutors to level criminal charges against his adversaries..."
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/20/trump-bondi-truth-social-00574380
* https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115239044548033727
1002wonderY
I can’t find the original video of the Department of War showing weapons and troops while Hegseth recites The Lord’s Prayer.
But here it is embedded in commentary by Dan McClellan
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTM8KTqeF/
But here it is embedded in commentary by Dan McClellan
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTM8KTqeF/
101margd
Turning Powerful Post 9-11 Counterterrorism Tools Onto Domestic Policy Targets
Deborah A. Curtis Rachel F. Cotton James P. Joseph Bridget M. Weiss Burden H. Walker Benjamin C. Mizer Eun Young Choi Sam Callahan Veronica A. Guerrero Alissa Kalinowski | 26 Sept 2025
"A Sweeping National Security Memorandum Transforms the Risk Landscape for U.S. Tax-Exempt Organizations and Their Funders
On September 25, 2025, President Trump issued National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7 or the Presidential Memorandum), “Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence.”
The Presidential Memorandum has direct and immediate implications for tax-exempt organizations (including charities, advocacy groups, and political organizations) who the government perceives as espousing “anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christian {views}; support for the overthrow of the United States Government; extremism on migration, race, and gender; {or} hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.” The implications extend to the funders and supporters of such organizations. The Presidential Memorandum maintains that the above-listed beliefs have “animat{ed}” political violence, and it seeks to create a government-wide effort to “investigate and disrupt networks, entities, and organizations that foment political violence.” Because the Presidential Memorandum calls for criminal investigations and other legal consequences based on beliefs expressed by organizations and their affiliates, the memorandum — and especially subsequent agency actions to implement its directives — presents significant issues under the First Amendment.
NSPM-7’s Key Provisions
- Expands Definition of Political Violence and Domestic Terrorist Acts...
- Empowers the National Joint Terrorism Task Force (NJTTF) and Joint Terrorism Task Forces With New Domestic Focus...
- Assigns a Central Role to Justice Department...
- Redirects the Treasury Department...
- IRS Oversight of Tax-Exempt Status...
Recommended Steps and Conclusions
The stakes are high...
Organizations should seek legal counsel to understand what activities could create criminal or administrative exposure for them and their employees and how to mitigate any such exposure...
By targeting tax-exempt organizations and funders targeted based on ideological considerations, the Presidential Memorandum and investigative actions implementing it could raise significant issues under the First Amendment. ... Affected organizations should consider their potential recourse through litigation. And tax-exempt organizations should familiarize themselves with Section 501(p) of the Internal Revenue Code and engage in essential contingency planning in the event of an IRS investigation or subsequent presidential order that implicates Section 501(p). "
https://www.arnoldporter.com/en/perspectives/blogs/enforcement-edge/2025/09/turn...
______________________________________
Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social | September 28, 2025 at 11:11 AM:
Editor at large, The Bulwark. Director, Defending Democracy Together. Host, Conversations with Bill Kristol. Never Trump.
Thursday: Trump signs NSPM-7, bringing the war on "terror" to the home front, including not just actions but speech.
Saturday: Trump orders deployment of troops to "war ravaged" Portland pursuant to NSPM-7.
Tuesday: Trump speaks to hundreds of general and flag officers summoned to Quantico.
Deborah A. Curtis Rachel F. Cotton James P. Joseph Bridget M. Weiss Burden H. Walker Benjamin C. Mizer Eun Young Choi Sam Callahan Veronica A. Guerrero Alissa Kalinowski | 26 Sept 2025
"A Sweeping National Security Memorandum Transforms the Risk Landscape for U.S. Tax-Exempt Organizations and Their Funders
On September 25, 2025, President Trump issued National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7 or the Presidential Memorandum), “Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence.”
The Presidential Memorandum has direct and immediate implications for tax-exempt organizations (including charities, advocacy groups, and political organizations) who the government perceives as espousing “anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christian {views}; support for the overthrow of the United States Government; extremism on migration, race, and gender; {or} hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.” The implications extend to the funders and supporters of such organizations. The Presidential Memorandum maintains that the above-listed beliefs have “animat{ed}” political violence, and it seeks to create a government-wide effort to “investigate and disrupt networks, entities, and organizations that foment political violence.” Because the Presidential Memorandum calls for criminal investigations and other legal consequences based on beliefs expressed by organizations and their affiliates, the memorandum — and especially subsequent agency actions to implement its directives — presents significant issues under the First Amendment.
NSPM-7’s Key Provisions
- Expands Definition of Political Violence and Domestic Terrorist Acts...
- Empowers the National Joint Terrorism Task Force (NJTTF) and Joint Terrorism Task Forces With New Domestic Focus...
- Assigns a Central Role to Justice Department...
- Redirects the Treasury Department...
- IRS Oversight of Tax-Exempt Status...
Recommended Steps and Conclusions
The stakes are high...
Organizations should seek legal counsel to understand what activities could create criminal or administrative exposure for them and their employees and how to mitigate any such exposure...
By targeting tax-exempt organizations and funders targeted based on ideological considerations, the Presidential Memorandum and investigative actions implementing it could raise significant issues under the First Amendment. ... Affected organizations should consider their potential recourse through litigation. And tax-exempt organizations should familiarize themselves with Section 501(p) of the Internal Revenue Code and engage in essential contingency planning in the event of an IRS investigation or subsequent presidential order that implicates Section 501(p). "
https://www.arnoldporter.com/en/perspectives/blogs/enforcement-edge/2025/09/turn...
______________________________________
Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social | September 28, 2025 at 11:11 AM:
Editor at large, The Bulwark. Director, Defending Democracy Together. Host, Conversations with Bill Kristol. Never Trump.
Thursday: Trump signs NSPM-7, bringing the war on "terror" to the home front, including not just actions but speech.
Saturday: Trump orders deployment of troops to "war ravaged" Portland pursuant to NSPM-7.
Tuesday: Trump speaks to hundreds of general and flag officers summoned to Quantico.
102margd
Every American should read this judge’s stirring rebuke against Trump
Austin Sarat | 4 Oct 2025
"On 30 September, Judge William Young of the United States district court of Massachusetts made clear that when it comes to freedom of speech, the constitution does not distinguish between people born in the United States and those who have come here as immigrants. His decision in American Association of University Professors v Rubio offers both a stirring civics lesson and an unusually personal rebuke against the Trump administration. The court found that the Trump administration had violated the right to free speech in its push to detain and deport pro-Palestinian foreign scholars..."
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/04/trump-judge-william-young-...
-------------------------------------------------
Opinion {161 p}
{Judge William Young of the United States district court of Massachusetts} September 30, 2025
American Association of University Professors v. Rubio
A case challenging the Trump administration’s policy of ideological deportation.
"Proposed by Congress in 1789, and ratified in 1791, the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States -- its words carved in New Hampshire granite on the exterior of the very courthouse in which this Court sits -- provides:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
U.S. Const. amend. I.
... This case -– perhaps the most important ever to fall within the jurisdiction of this district court –- squarely presents the issue whether non-citizens lawfully present here in United States actually have the same free speech rights as the rest of us. The Court answers this Constitutional question unequivocally “yes, they do.” “No law” means “no law.” The First Amendment does not draw President Trump’s invidious distinction and it is not to be found in our history or jurisprudence. See Section III.A infra. No one’s freedom of speech is unlimited, of course, but these limits are the same for both citizens and non-citizens alike. ..."
https://knightcolumbia.org/documents/ahmr9jfap2
Austin Sarat | 4 Oct 2025
"On 30 September, Judge William Young of the United States district court of Massachusetts made clear that when it comes to freedom of speech, the constitution does not distinguish between people born in the United States and those who have come here as immigrants. His decision in American Association of University Professors v Rubio offers both a stirring civics lesson and an unusually personal rebuke against the Trump administration. The court found that the Trump administration had violated the right to free speech in its push to detain and deport pro-Palestinian foreign scholars..."
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/04/trump-judge-william-young-...
-------------------------------------------------
Opinion {161 p}
{Judge William Young of the United States district court of Massachusetts} September 30, 2025
American Association of University Professors v. Rubio
A case challenging the Trump administration’s policy of ideological deportation.
"Proposed by Congress in 1789, and ratified in 1791, the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States -- its words carved in New Hampshire granite on the exterior of the very courthouse in which this Court sits -- provides:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
U.S. Const. amend. I.
... This case -– perhaps the most important ever to fall within the jurisdiction of this district court –- squarely presents the issue whether non-citizens lawfully present here in United States actually have the same free speech rights as the rest of us. The Court answers this Constitutional question unequivocally “yes, they do.” “No law” means “no law.” The First Amendment does not draw President Trump’s invidious distinction and it is not to be found in our history or jurisprudence. See Section III.A infra. No one’s freedom of speech is unlimited, of course, but these limits are the same for both citizens and non-citizens alike. ..."
https://knightcolumbia.org/documents/ahmr9jfap2
103Doug1943
Few people really believe in Free Speech, when it comes to their political enemies. It's heartening to find a few who do:
https://www.unz.com/imercer/free-speech-after-charlie-kirk-an-american-lesson-fo...
It's under attack from both Right and Left. Here is one issue on which principled people from both sides of the political barricades ought to be able to unite.
https://www.unz.com/imercer/free-speech-after-charlie-kirk-an-american-lesson-fo...
It's under attack from both Right and Left. Here is one issue on which principled people from both sides of the political barricades ought to be able to unite.
104margd
Appeals court rules against Trump in birthright citizenship battle
Filip Timotija - 10/04/25
"... The federal appeals court in Boston became the latest court to say that the president’s push to end birthright citizenship, which states that anyone born in the U.S. are citizens regardless of their parents’ immigration status, is likely unlawful.
“Our nation’s history of efforts to restrict birthright citizenship — from Dred Scott in the decade before the Civil War to the attempted justification for the enforcement of the Chinese Exclusion Act in Wong Kim Ark — has not been a proud one,” the court’s top judge wrote in the ruling.
The latest appeals court decision marks the fifth federal court since June to either issue or uphold orders blocking Trump’s order..."
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5538573-appeals-court-trump-admin-b...
Filip Timotija - 10/04/25
"... The federal appeals court in Boston became the latest court to say that the president’s push to end birthright citizenship, which states that anyone born in the U.S. are citizens regardless of their parents’ immigration status, is likely unlawful.
“Our nation’s history of efforts to restrict birthright citizenship — from Dred Scott in the decade before the Civil War to the attempted justification for the enforcement of the Chinese Exclusion Act in Wong Kim Ark — has not been a proud one,” the court’s top judge wrote in the ruling.
The latest appeals court decision marks the fifth federal court since June to either issue or uphold orders blocking Trump’s order..."
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5538573-appeals-court-trump-admin-b...
105margd
>99 margd:
Ed Krassenstein @EdKrassen | 1:05 PM · Oct 11, 2025:
https://x.com/EdKrassen/status/1977058052223504872
BREAKING: The New York Times reports that New York Attorney General Letitia James allowed her niece to live rent-free for several years in her Norfolk, Virginia home.
This is the same property that Trump’s DOJ has accused her of misrepresenting as a “second home” on her mortgage application. Prosecutors have claimed she purchased it as an investment property.
Records and testimony suggest otherwise: James not only allowed her niece, Nakia Thompson, to live there without paying rent, but also covered the property’s maintenance costs herself, meaning she was losing money, not profiting from it.
Thompson reportedly told a grand jury about these details, but Trump’s former attorney Lindsey Halligan chose not to have her testify before the grand jury that ultimately indicted James.
Why? Likely because if the niece’s testimony had been presented, it likely would have undermined the case for indictment entirely.
Ed Krassenstein @EdKrassen | 1:05 PM · Oct 11, 2025:
https://x.com/EdKrassen/status/1977058052223504872
BREAKING: The New York Times reports that New York Attorney General Letitia James allowed her niece to live rent-free for several years in her Norfolk, Virginia home.
This is the same property that Trump’s DOJ has accused her of misrepresenting as a “second home” on her mortgage application. Prosecutors have claimed she purchased it as an investment property.
Records and testimony suggest otherwise: James not only allowed her niece, Nakia Thompson, to live there without paying rent, but also covered the property’s maintenance costs herself, meaning she was losing money, not profiting from it.
Thompson reportedly told a grand jury about these details, but Trump’s former attorney Lindsey Halligan chose not to have her testify before the grand jury that ultimately indicted James.
Why? Likely because if the niece’s testimony had been presented, it likely would have undermined the case for indictment entirely.
106margd
!! Hope Dems are keeping notes: oh, the footnotes in the next impeachment and trial!!
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com | October 14, 2025 at 3:00 PM:
"Trump and Bessent clarify that they will only help out Argentina as long as Milei is in power. Trump adds that the same thing goes with NYC, where the White House will hold up funds if Mamdani wins."
(1:33) https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3m36edmdnd52q
-------------------------------------------------
The Ass is the father of the legs @internethippo.bsky.social | October 14, 2025 at 3:00 PM:
"You pay taxes so he can illegally weaponize that money against you and your community"
______________________________________
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 10h
After bragging about permanently cutting "Democrat programs," Trump says "we're not closing up Republican programs."
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3m36frdpawa2d
Trump: "The Democrats are getting killed on the shutdown, because we're closing up programs that are Democrat programs that we were opposed to. And they're never gonna come back."
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3m36fpywcnk2e
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com | October 14, 2025 at 3:00 PM:
"Trump and Bessent clarify that they will only help out Argentina as long as Milei is in power. Trump adds that the same thing goes with NYC, where the White House will hold up funds if Mamdani wins."
(1:33) https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3m36edmdnd52q
-------------------------------------------------
The Ass is the father of the legs @internethippo.bsky.social | October 14, 2025 at 3:00 PM:
"You pay taxes so he can illegally weaponize that money against you and your community"
______________________________________
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 10h
After bragging about permanently cutting "Democrat programs," Trump says "we're not closing up Republican programs."
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3m36frdpawa2d
Trump: "The Democrats are getting killed on the shutdown, because we're closing up programs that are Democrat programs that we were opposed to. And they're never gonna come back."
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3m36fpywcnk2e
107TheToadRevoltof84
https://www.dailysignal.com/2025/10/14/trump-is-right-antifa-deserves-extinction...
Antifa thugs typically wear black and don masks. They recall white-clad Klansmen with hooded faces.
Coincidence? Nope.
Just as the Ku Klux Klan was the postbellum Democratic Party’s ruthless enforcement arm, Antifa is today’s neo-Marxist Democratic Party’s militant wing.
No wonder the Left treats these domestic terrorists so gingerly.
Antifa thugs typically wear black and don masks. They recall white-clad Klansmen with hooded faces.
Coincidence? Nope.
Just as the Ku Klux Klan was the postbellum Democratic Party’s ruthless enforcement arm, Antifa is today’s neo-Marxist Democratic Party’s militant wing.
No wonder the Left treats these domestic terrorists so gingerly.
108margd
You will be able to spot Trump-sent provocateurs at Saturday's "No Kings" protest -- they'll be the incels and thugs wearing black and donning masks. They'll stand out from the frogs and the unicorns and the little old ladies and the clerical collars, some of whom may be sporting bandages...
109TheToadRevoltof84
>108 margd:
https://www.dailysignal.com/2025/10/14/trump-is-right-antifa-deserves-extinction...
An Oct. 8 White House fact sheet stripped the varnish that left-wing apologists have slathered all over Antifa:
“It’s like a war zone. There are times I’ve had to have a gas mask on inside my own home,” says a resident near the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility under siege in south Portland.
“I only come out during the day. You see all the black-covered Antifa people aren’t here. They come with the night,” says another Portland resident.
Since early June, the terrorists have violently breached the facility by using a stop sign as a battering ram, hurled explosives and projectiles, burned American flags, viciously assaulted, attacked, and injured officers, doxed officers, berated neighbors, and even rolled out a guillotine.
In May 2024, an “Antifa anarchist movement” took credit for burning more than a dozen Portland Police Bureau training vehicles.
In May 2022, Antifa members deployed smoke grenades, paint-filled balloons, and fireworks to break up a campaign event for a Republican political candidate.
In January 2021, more than 100 Antifa demonstrators attacked Portland police and vandalized property, with some armed with knives and long poles.
In August 2020, a self-described Antifa militant shot and killed a Patriot Prayer supporter during a riot in Portland, then was later killed after he brandished a weapon while law enforcement attempted to apprehend him on murder charges.
In 2020, Antifa terrorists led 100 days of carnage and violence in Portland—in which they rioted, looted, burned buildings, bludgeoned officers, deployed power tools and commercial-grade fireworks as weapons, and attempted to destroy a local courthouse.
“Rare and limited.” Really?
https://www.dailysignal.com/2025/10/14/trump-is-right-antifa-deserves-extinction...
An Oct. 8 White House fact sheet stripped the varnish that left-wing apologists have slathered all over Antifa:
“It’s like a war zone. There are times I’ve had to have a gas mask on inside my own home,” says a resident near the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility under siege in south Portland.
“I only come out during the day. You see all the black-covered Antifa people aren’t here. They come with the night,” says another Portland resident.
Since early June, the terrorists have violently breached the facility by using a stop sign as a battering ram, hurled explosives and projectiles, burned American flags, viciously assaulted, attacked, and injured officers, doxed officers, berated neighbors, and even rolled out a guillotine.
In May 2024, an “Antifa anarchist movement” took credit for burning more than a dozen Portland Police Bureau training vehicles.
In May 2022, Antifa members deployed smoke grenades, paint-filled balloons, and fireworks to break up a campaign event for a Republican political candidate.
In January 2021, more than 100 Antifa demonstrators attacked Portland police and vandalized property, with some armed with knives and long poles.
In August 2020, a self-described Antifa militant shot and killed a Patriot Prayer supporter during a riot in Portland, then was later killed after he brandished a weapon while law enforcement attempted to apprehend him on murder charges.
In 2020, Antifa terrorists led 100 days of carnage and violence in Portland—in which they rioted, looted, burned buildings, bludgeoned officers, deployed power tools and commercial-grade fireworks as weapons, and attempted to destroy a local courthouse.
“Rare and limited.” Really?
110margd
We Found That More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days.
Nicole Foy, photography by Sarahbeth Maney | Oct. 16, 2025
"... Americans have been dragged, tackled, beaten, tased and shot by immigration agents. They’ve had their necks kneeled on. They’ve been held outside in the rain while in their underwear. At least three citizens were pregnant when agents detained them. One of those women had already had the door of her home blown off while Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem watched.
About two dozen Americans have said they were held for more than a day without being able to phone lawyers or loved ones.
While the tally is almost certainly incomplete, we found more than 170 such incidents during the first nine months of President Donald Trump’s second administration.
Among the citizens detained are nearly 20 children, including two with cancer. That includes four who were held for weeks with their undocumented mother and without access to the family’s attorney until a congresswoman intervened.
Immigration agents do have authority to detain Americans in limited circumstances..."
https://www.propublica.org/article/immigration-dhs-american-citizens-arrested-de...
Nicole Foy, photography by Sarahbeth Maney | Oct. 16, 2025
"... Americans have been dragged, tackled, beaten, tased and shot by immigration agents. They’ve had their necks kneeled on. They’ve been held outside in the rain while in their underwear. At least three citizens were pregnant when agents detained them. One of those women had already had the door of her home blown off while Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem watched.
About two dozen Americans have said they were held for more than a day without being able to phone lawyers or loved ones.
While the tally is almost certainly incomplete, we found more than 170 such incidents during the first nine months of President Donald Trump’s second administration.
Among the citizens detained are nearly 20 children, including two with cancer. That includes four who were held for weeks with their undocumented mother and without access to the family’s attorney until a congresswoman intervened.
Immigration agents do have authority to detain Americans in limited circumstances..."
https://www.propublica.org/article/immigration-dhs-american-citizens-arrested-de...
111prosfilaes
>109 TheToadRevoltof84: “They’re not bearing witness. They’re bearing arms,” Fox News’ Jesse Watters observed Thursday evening. ... “This middle-aged woman’s packing a machete.”
As is their legal right, correct? Or is it AR-15s that are just fine, but machetes not?
“It’s like a war zone. There are times I’ve had to have a gas mask on inside my own home,”
And how is that the fault of the people who aren't using chemical weapons?
“Antifa isn’t an organization!”
Would you like to live in reality or fantasy? Antifa is not an organization, like Christianity or libertarianism isn't an organization. There are lots and lots of small groups that consider themselves Antifa, but no greater organization, no overarching hierarchy.
even rolled out a guillotine.
Oh, those weren't Antifa. There were sightseers; it's my understanding as per January 6, 2021 that guillotines are pretty much de rigor when touring government facilities.
“I was ambushed in a mob beating,” while scrutinizing Antifa in 2019, journalist Andy Ngo remembered.
He was attacked while traveling with the Proud Boys, a few weeks after traveling with the Patriot Prayer where they beat a woman and broke a vertebrae in her back. As a proper journalist, he alleges he heard nothing of what the Patriot Prayer group was planning before hand, being busy on his phone. But no, just call him a "journalist".
Antifa thugs typically wear black and don masks. They recall white-clad Klansmen with hooded faces.
Do all people who wear black and don masks make you recall Klansmen? Are ICE officers make you recall Klansmen?
Again, why do you post this stuff? It's great ragebait, but try thinking about what you post and how people from the other side might think about it.
As is their legal right, correct? Or is it AR-15s that are just fine, but machetes not?
“It’s like a war zone. There are times I’ve had to have a gas mask on inside my own home,”
And how is that the fault of the people who aren't using chemical weapons?
“Antifa isn’t an organization!”
Would you like to live in reality or fantasy? Antifa is not an organization, like Christianity or libertarianism isn't an organization. There are lots and lots of small groups that consider themselves Antifa, but no greater organization, no overarching hierarchy.
even rolled out a guillotine.
Oh, those weren't Antifa. There were sightseers; it's my understanding as per January 6, 2021 that guillotines are pretty much de rigor when touring government facilities.
“I was ambushed in a mob beating,” while scrutinizing Antifa in 2019, journalist Andy Ngo remembered.
He was attacked while traveling with the Proud Boys, a few weeks after traveling with the Patriot Prayer where they beat a woman and broke a vertebrae in her back. As a proper journalist, he alleges he heard nothing of what the Patriot Prayer group was planning before hand, being busy on his phone. But no, just call him a "journalist".
Antifa thugs typically wear black and don masks. They recall white-clad Klansmen with hooded faces.
Do all people who wear black and don masks make you recall Klansmen? Are ICE officers make you recall Klansmen?
Again, why do you post this stuff? It's great ragebait, but try thinking about what you post and how people from the other side might think about it.
112margd
The Supreme Court's Dastardly Plan Makes Court Reform Obligatory
Brian Beutler | Oct 07, 2025
"... the Supreme Court’s Republican majority ... knew Democrats were unlikely to muster the political will to expand the court or reform the judiciary, but they didn’t want to tempt fate. If they’d acted from the outset the way they went on to act later in Biden’s presidency, it might have forced Democrats’ hands.
So they bided their time. They waited until events confirmed their suspicion—that Democrats would not change the Senate’s filibuster rules under any circumstances—then resumed their nakedly partisan jurisprudence.
... over the first months of his second term, the court has settled into a new rhythm: When Trump needs freedom from injunctions and restraining orders imposed by lower courts, the Republican justices race to his rescue, typically without explaining themselves. Then, they hit the brakes, giving him plenty of running room to engage in illegality before issuing decisions on the merits.
... allowing Trump to engage in a spree of autocratic vandalism that broadly corrupts the federal government, before shutting down his claims to king-like power in a way that prevents Democrats from quickly fixing things in 2029..."
https://www.offmessage.net/p/the-supreme-courts-dastardly-plan
-----------------------------------------------
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com | October 12, 2025 at 12:08 PM
"Amy Coney Barrett defends heavy use of the shadow docket: "If we wrote a long opinion, it might give the impression that we have finally resolved the issue, and in none of these cases have we finally resolved the issue.""
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3m2z3izfsbk25
Brian Beutler | Oct 07, 2025
"... the Supreme Court’s Republican majority ... knew Democrats were unlikely to muster the political will to expand the court or reform the judiciary, but they didn’t want to tempt fate. If they’d acted from the outset the way they went on to act later in Biden’s presidency, it might have forced Democrats’ hands.
So they bided their time. They waited until events confirmed their suspicion—that Democrats would not change the Senate’s filibuster rules under any circumstances—then resumed their nakedly partisan jurisprudence.
... over the first months of his second term, the court has settled into a new rhythm: When Trump needs freedom from injunctions and restraining orders imposed by lower courts, the Republican justices race to his rescue, typically without explaining themselves. Then, they hit the brakes, giving him plenty of running room to engage in illegality before issuing decisions on the merits.
... allowing Trump to engage in a spree of autocratic vandalism that broadly corrupts the federal government, before shutting down his claims to king-like power in a way that prevents Democrats from quickly fixing things in 2029..."
https://www.offmessage.net/p/the-supreme-courts-dastardly-plan
-----------------------------------------------
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com | October 12, 2025 at 12:08 PM
"Amy Coney Barrett defends heavy use of the shadow docket: "If we wrote a long opinion, it might give the impression that we have finally resolved the issue, and in none of these cases have we finally resolved the issue.""
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3m2z3izfsbk25
113TheToadRevoltof84
>111 prosfilaes:
Those are quotes. You, maybe, are led to believe that Antifa is harmless as I'm led to believe some on the other side are. But, don't intentionally minimize a factual problem.
ICE officers are at risk by violent leftists if their faces are seen.
I don't know why I post it either, because I know it isn't doing anything. We can't agree on truths or facts so please make a finishing statement of victory so we can both be done.
Those are quotes. You, maybe, are led to believe that Antifa is harmless as I'm led to believe some on the other side are. But, don't intentionally minimize a factual problem.
ICE officers are at risk by violent leftists if their faces are seen.
I don't know why I post it either, because I know it isn't doing anything. We can't agree on truths or facts so please make a finishing statement of victory so we can both be done.
114prosfilaes
>113 TheToadRevoltof84: Again, you don't bother to actually respond. You don't explain why toting guns is fine for the right, but is something disturbing on the left. You don't explain why the group that has no tear gas is to blame for the careless use of it by the group that has tear gas. You fail to explain why it's not okay to protest with burning flags and symbolic guillotines.
ICE officers are at risk by violent leftists if their faces are seen.
And protesters are at risk of direct attacks from ICE and the administration and violent right-wingers if their faces are seen.
They're police officers. It is not appropriate for people given the power of the law to be allowed to use that power anonymously; it's notoriously abused even by people who wear name badges.
We can't agree on truths or facts
Posting an article that makes no pretense of neutrality and refusing to defend or discuss it doesn't do that any good.
don't intentionally minimize a factual problem.
Then try and give a realistic description of a factual problem. Oh look, you can go back five years and find a case where someone involved with Antifa allegedly killed someone else, and if we believe Trump*, was assassinated before he could be brought to trial. You claim Antifa has "viciously assaulted, attacked, and injured officers" and expect us to believe that, knowing how the police react to stuff like that.
Going back to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killings_of_Aaron_Danielson_and_Michael_Reinoehl:
"Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at the California State University, San Bernardino, commented to Voice of America in an article published on September 1, when investigations were still ongoing, that if Reinoehl was implicated it would mark the first case in recent history of an antifa supporter being charged with homicide. Commenting in the Orange County Register on September 7, Levin said the incident was the "first known killing by an antifa supporter", describing it as "an outlier but also a bellwether. ... You have a perfect storm in this country with a polarized population, a presidential election, a global pandemic that is frustrating and devastating people, and disinformation and conspiracy theories spreading on social media. The biggest threat is still, far-right white supremacist groups. But you also see that Facebook has become fertile soil for the mushrooming of small groups and lone actors."
In October 2020, Danielson's killing was added to the CSIS terrorism database as a deadly "far-left" attack, the first such incident in over two decades. The killing is also referenced on the Anti-Defamation League's page on antifa, as the only "suspected antifa-related murder" to date; and the New America Foundation's tally of killings during terrorist attacks in the U.S. since 9/11, as the first recorded fatality in a far-left attack, while far right attacks have been regularly recorded for the past 25 years."
Do you talk about a factual problem, or do you want to blame Antifa for burning the Reichstag as an excuse to crush the left?
* "the U.S. Marshals killed him. And I will tell you something, that's the way it has to be. There has to be retribution when you have crime like this." and later "Fifteen minutes, it was over. We got him. They knew who he was. They didn't want to arrest him."
ICE officers are at risk by violent leftists if their faces are seen.
And protesters are at risk of direct attacks from ICE and the administration and violent right-wingers if their faces are seen.
They're police officers. It is not appropriate for people given the power of the law to be allowed to use that power anonymously; it's notoriously abused even by people who wear name badges.
We can't agree on truths or facts
Posting an article that makes no pretense of neutrality and refusing to defend or discuss it doesn't do that any good.
don't intentionally minimize a factual problem.
Then try and give a realistic description of a factual problem. Oh look, you can go back five years and find a case where someone involved with Antifa allegedly killed someone else, and if we believe Trump*, was assassinated before he could be brought to trial. You claim Antifa has "viciously assaulted, attacked, and injured officers" and expect us to believe that, knowing how the police react to stuff like that.
Going back to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killings_of_Aaron_Danielson_and_Michael_Reinoehl:
"Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at the California State University, San Bernardino, commented to Voice of America in an article published on September 1, when investigations were still ongoing, that if Reinoehl was implicated it would mark the first case in recent history of an antifa supporter being charged with homicide. Commenting in the Orange County Register on September 7, Levin said the incident was the "first known killing by an antifa supporter", describing it as "an outlier but also a bellwether. ... You have a perfect storm in this country with a polarized population, a presidential election, a global pandemic that is frustrating and devastating people, and disinformation and conspiracy theories spreading on social media. The biggest threat is still, far-right white supremacist groups. But you also see that Facebook has become fertile soil for the mushrooming of small groups and lone actors."
In October 2020, Danielson's killing was added to the CSIS terrorism database as a deadly "far-left" attack, the first such incident in over two decades. The killing is also referenced on the Anti-Defamation League's page on antifa, as the only "suspected antifa-related murder" to date; and the New America Foundation's tally of killings during terrorist attacks in the U.S. since 9/11, as the first recorded fatality in a far-left attack, while far right attacks have been regularly recorded for the past 25 years."
Do you talk about a factual problem, or do you want to blame Antifa for burning the Reichstag as an excuse to crush the left?
* "the U.S. Marshals killed him. And I will tell you something, that's the way it has to be. There has to be retribution when you have crime like this." and later "Fifteen minutes, it was over. We got him. They knew who he was. They didn't want to arrest him."
115jjwilson61
"They're police officers. It is not appropriate for people given the power of the law to be allowed to use that power anonymously"
Exactly.
Exactly.
116margd
Appeals court allows Trump administration to deploy National Guard in Portland
Karina Tsui | 20 Oct 2025
"A Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling Monday will allow the Trump administration to deploy National Guard troops in Portland, saying it is likely to succeed on its appeal of an order that blocked the deployment.
... “Regardless of what happens next, Oregon (Department of Justice) will continue to fight to uphold Oregon’s laws and the Constitution,” Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said in a social media post Wednesday...
... President Donald Trump on Sunday threatened to send the National Guard to San Francisco ...
https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/20/us/trump-san-francisco-national-guard-legal-battl...
Karina Tsui | 20 Oct 2025
"A Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling Monday will allow the Trump administration to deploy National Guard troops in Portland, saying it is likely to succeed on its appeal of an order that blocked the deployment.
... “Regardless of what happens next, Oregon (Department of Justice) will continue to fight to uphold Oregon’s laws and the Constitution,” Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said in a social media post Wednesday...
... President Donald Trump on Sunday threatened to send the National Guard to San Francisco ...
https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/20/us/trump-san-francisco-national-guard-legal-battl...
1172wonderY
Reagan-Appointed Judge Issues Brutal Condemnation of Donald Trump
https://www.newsweek.com/reagan-appointed-judge-issues-brutal-condemnation-of-do...
Judge Mark L. Wolf, who served on the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts since 1989, announced his departure in a Sunday op-ed published by The Atlantic titled "Why I Am Resigning," stating he can no longer abide by judicial restrictions that prevent him from publicly addressing what he characterizes as the administration's systematic dismantling of the rule of law.
His article:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/11/federal-judge-resignation-trump/684845...
I can’t read his article online, but my library subscribes, so I will get it from Libby.
https://www.newsweek.com/reagan-appointed-judge-issues-brutal-condemnation-of-do...
Judge Mark L. Wolf, who served on the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts since 1989, announced his departure in a Sunday op-ed published by The Atlantic titled "Why I Am Resigning," stating he can no longer abide by judicial restrictions that prevent him from publicly addressing what he characterizes as the administration's systematic dismantling of the rule of law.
His article:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/11/federal-judge-resignation-trump/684845...
I can’t read his article online, but my library subscribes, so I will get it from Libby.
118margd
Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social | November 17, 2025 at 8:50 AM:
Policy Professor, Ford School, University of Michigan. Irish immigrant. Administrative burdens guy.
"Absolutely no way to read this and not conclude that the Department of Justice has been deeply corrupted. And this is from a time when career lawyers were in place, pushing back against illegality. With firings and resignations, the politicization will just get worse.
... Some of the details are so bleak. One lawyer got Trump appointee merchandise to put in the background of his zoom calls to signal loyalty. Others put sound machines at their desk because they were convinced they were being bugged.
... The DOJ ordered US Marshals to the house of the pardon attorney who refused to sign off on a pardon to give Mel Gibson back his guns. Big law firms told her they supported her but did not want to be seen representing her.
This is the use of government-sponsored fear to silence dissent.
... "defense attorneys are telling us they can’t get their clients to take good or reasonable plea offers because they felt they’re better off spending their money on a political donation, drawing Trump’s attention, and getting the case dismissed or going to trial and getting a pardon."
... Trump will not just be four years of bad management. The culture of these organizations will be fucked for a long time. The pressure to retaliate and clean house will be strong, and no-one wants to work in a war zone.
... From two years ago: "The third part of Mr. Trump’s authoritarian blueprint is to create a legal framework that would allow him to use govt resources to protect himself, attack his political enemies & force through his policy goals w/o congressional approval.""
--------------------------------------
The Unraveling of the Justice Department (Gift Article)
Emily Bazelon and Rachel Poser | Nov. 16, 2025
'Sixty former staffers describe an environment of suspicion and intimidation within the nation’s most powerful law enforcement agency..."
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/11/16/magazine/trump-justice-department...
Policy Professor, Ford School, University of Michigan. Irish immigrant. Administrative burdens guy.
"Absolutely no way to read this and not conclude that the Department of Justice has been deeply corrupted. And this is from a time when career lawyers were in place, pushing back against illegality. With firings and resignations, the politicization will just get worse.
... Some of the details are so bleak. One lawyer got Trump appointee merchandise to put in the background of his zoom calls to signal loyalty. Others put sound machines at their desk because they were convinced they were being bugged.
... The DOJ ordered US Marshals to the house of the pardon attorney who refused to sign off on a pardon to give Mel Gibson back his guns. Big law firms told her they supported her but did not want to be seen representing her.
This is the use of government-sponsored fear to silence dissent.
... "defense attorneys are telling us they can’t get their clients to take good or reasonable plea offers because they felt they’re better off spending their money on a political donation, drawing Trump’s attention, and getting the case dismissed or going to trial and getting a pardon."
... Trump will not just be four years of bad management. The culture of these organizations will be fucked for a long time. The pressure to retaliate and clean house will be strong, and no-one wants to work in a war zone.
... From two years ago: "The third part of Mr. Trump’s authoritarian blueprint is to create a legal framework that would allow him to use govt resources to protect himself, attack his political enemies & force through his policy goals w/o congressional approval.""
--------------------------------------
The Unraveling of the Justice Department (Gift Article)
Emily Bazelon and Rachel Poser | Nov. 16, 2025
'Sixty former staffers describe an environment of suspicion and intimidation within the nation’s most powerful law enforcement agency..."
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/11/16/magazine/trump-justice-department...
119margd
>118 margd: contd.
Ed Krassenstein @EdKrassen | 11:19 AM · Nov 17, 2025: {X.com}
"BREAKING: Judge Fitzpatrick just completely eviscerated the Trump DOJ's use of the Grand Jury to prosecute James Comey:
"The record points to a disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps, missteps that led an FBI agent and a prosecutor to potentially undermine the integrity of the grand jury proceeding."
The Judge also says that the Trump DOJ violated the warrant that was issued:
"It had seized data from Mr. Richman’s hard drive that extended to June 10, 2017–again well into the period during which Mr. Richman represented Mr. Comey–despite the warrant (19-sw-182) imposing a temporal limit of April 30, 2017... The government’s 2025 seizure… included information beyond the scope of the original warrants."
The Judge went on to say: "There is grave doubt that the decision to indict was free from the substantial influence of such violations."
Judge Fitzpatrick has granted Comey's request for all grand jury materials in the case."
Ed Krassenstein @EdKrassen | 11:19 AM · Nov 17, 2025: {X.com}
"BREAKING: Judge Fitzpatrick just completely eviscerated the Trump DOJ's use of the Grand Jury to prosecute James Comey:
"The record points to a disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps, missteps that led an FBI agent and a prosecutor to potentially undermine the integrity of the grand jury proceeding."
The Judge also says that the Trump DOJ violated the warrant that was issued:
"It had seized data from Mr. Richman’s hard drive that extended to June 10, 2017–again well into the period during which Mr. Richman represented Mr. Comey–despite the warrant (19-sw-182) imposing a temporal limit of April 30, 2017... The government’s 2025 seizure… included information beyond the scope of the original warrants."
The Judge went on to say: "There is grave doubt that the decision to indict was free from the substantial influence of such violations."
Judge Fitzpatrick has granted Comey's request for all grand jury materials in the case."
1202wonderY
Troops must refuse unlawful orders. A full reading of the applicable law
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTrddr7RG/
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTrddr7RG/
121margd
>66 margd: contd.
Judge issues order blocking IRS from sharing taxpayer information with ICE
Dareh Gregorian and Raquel Coronell Uribe | Nov. 21, 2025
"... The court "concludes that the Plaintiffs have shown a substantial likelihood that the IRS’s adoption of the Address-Sharing Policy and the IRS’s subsequent sharing of taxpayer information with ICE were unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act," U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote in a 94-page ruling.
"Furthermore, Plaintiffs have shown that the IRS’s disclosure of confidential taxpayer address information to ICE was contrary to law because it violated several provisions of Internal Revenue Code," the judge wrote.
The order indicated that the IRS disclosed in early August information about nearly 47,000 taxpayers..."
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/judge-issues-order-blocking-irs-sha...
--------------------------------------------------
94 p ruling: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.277519/gov.uscourts.dcd...
____________________________________
Meanwhile ICE relies on state-issued license plates in "predictive intelligence" system. I bet we can thank Israel for this one -- didn't think we gave them $$$ for nothing, did you?
Alt National Park Service (22 ov 2025) on Facebook:
"If you want a sense of how far the surveillance state has expanded inside the United States, look at what federal authorities are doing on our highways. The U.S. Border Patrol is quietly operating a nationwide monitoring program that tracks the movements of millions of American drivers, far beyond the border itself.
This “predictive intelligence” system uses a vast network of license-plate-scanning cameras positioned across the country. These devices automatically record the plates of passing vehicles and feed that data into an algorithm designed to flag travel patterns the government considers “suspicious.” Drivers have no way of knowing when or why they were flagged.
Once the algorithm identifies a car, Border Patrol analysts can alert local police. That’s where many people get blindsided: they’re suddenly pulled over for something minor alleged speeding, a turn-signal issue, window tint, even a hanging air freshener. Officers then launch into aggressive questioning or conduct a search, and the driver has no idea the real trigger was a computer program tracking their movements.
The result is a surveillance dragnet that reaches far beyond the actual border, giving federal agencies (and the local departments they loop in) tremendous power to monitor, stop, and detain ordinary Americans based solely on where they drove and when. And most people never realize that their daily routes are feeding a secret system that decides whether they’re treated as a suspect.
Judge issues order blocking IRS from sharing taxpayer information with ICE
Dareh Gregorian and Raquel Coronell Uribe | Nov. 21, 2025
"... The court "concludes that the Plaintiffs have shown a substantial likelihood that the IRS’s adoption of the Address-Sharing Policy and the IRS’s subsequent sharing of taxpayer information with ICE were unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act," U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote in a 94-page ruling.
"Furthermore, Plaintiffs have shown that the IRS’s disclosure of confidential taxpayer address information to ICE was contrary to law because it violated several provisions of Internal Revenue Code," the judge wrote.
The order indicated that the IRS disclosed in early August information about nearly 47,000 taxpayers..."
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/judge-issues-order-blocking-irs-sha...
--------------------------------------------------
94 p ruling: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.277519/gov.uscourts.dcd...
____________________________________
Meanwhile ICE relies on state-issued license plates in "predictive intelligence" system. I bet we can thank Israel for this one -- didn't think we gave them $$$ for nothing, did you?
Alt National Park Service (22 ov 2025) on Facebook:
"If you want a sense of how far the surveillance state has expanded inside the United States, look at what federal authorities are doing on our highways. The U.S. Border Patrol is quietly operating a nationwide monitoring program that tracks the movements of millions of American drivers, far beyond the border itself.
This “predictive intelligence” system uses a vast network of license-plate-scanning cameras positioned across the country. These devices automatically record the plates of passing vehicles and feed that data into an algorithm designed to flag travel patterns the government considers “suspicious.” Drivers have no way of knowing when or why they were flagged.
Once the algorithm identifies a car, Border Patrol analysts can alert local police. That’s where many people get blindsided: they’re suddenly pulled over for something minor alleged speeding, a turn-signal issue, window tint, even a hanging air freshener. Officers then launch into aggressive questioning or conduct a search, and the driver has no idea the real trigger was a computer program tracking their movements.
The result is a surveillance dragnet that reaches far beyond the actual border, giving federal agencies (and the local departments they loop in) tremendous power to monitor, stop, and detain ordinary Americans based solely on where they drove and when. And most people never realize that their daily routes are feeding a secret system that decides whether they’re treated as a suspect.
1222wonderY
A variety of retired military post their own video supporting Senator Mark Kelly
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTr2cLR6f/
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTr2cLR6f/
123John5918
This French judge approved Netanyahu’s arrest warrant. Now Trump is targeting him (Guardian)
Three ICC judges have been put on a sanctions list with terrorists after approving an arrest warrant for Israel’s prime minister. This is the charade of the ‘rules-based order’...
124margd
Alt National Park Service {Facebook, 29 November 2025}:
"Lets explain how escalating/manufacturing a military confrontation with Venezuela gives the administration a legal “hook” to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, one of the oldest national-security laws still on the books. This statute allows a president to detain, restrict, or deport non-citizens from a country the U.S. is at war with or engaged in hostilities against. Under ordinary circumstances, the government cannot legally conduct mass detentions or broad, nationality-based deportations due-process protections, asylum law, and federal courts all create barriers that stop overreach. But by creating even a limited foreign conflict, the administration can claim that a state of hostilities exists, and once that designation is in place, the president can argue that Venezuelan nationals fall under wartime authority. Courts have historically granted wide deference to the executive branch when it claims war powers, which dramatically reduces judicial oversight. The political logic is simple: a foreign conflict is being used as a pretext to unlock a domestic tool that normally would be unconstitutional to deploy at scale.
To make this work, the administration would first escalate tensions military deployments, naval maneuvers in the Caribbean, airstrikes framed as “self-defense,” or any confrontation that can be described as an act of Venezuelan aggression. The president can then issue a proclamation stating that U.S. forces have been “engaged” or that “active hostilities” exist. A formal declaration of war is not required; even historically, the Alien Enemies Act has been triggered by presidential declarations of hostilities rather than votes in Congress. Once invoked, the law gives the executive the power to impose curfews, forced registration, GPS tracking, detention, or deportation of Venezuelan nationals with minimal due process. It essentially bypasses traditional immigration courts entirely. And although the statute would apply to Venezuelans on paper, the broader strategic goal is to create a legal precedent that wartime powers can be blended with immigration enforcement opening the door for future expansions to other nationalities or categories of immigrants simply by linking them to a “security threat.”
This is where the Stephen Miller influence is clearest. For years he has searched for statutory loopholes and obscure executive authorities that avoid judicial review. The Alien Enemies Act is particularly attractive because it is broad, vague, and historically under-challenged; it was written in an era with almost no constitutional protections for immigrants. Manufacturing an external conflict in order to invoke it is a textbook Miller tactic: create a crisis, use the crisis to claim extraordinary authority, and then apply that authority to carry out hardline domestic policy goals. The danger is not just for Venezuelans, it sets a precedent that any administration can engineer a foreign confrontation to justify suspending civil liberties, accelerating mass deportations, or targeting immigrant communities under the guise of “national security.” This all sounding familiar?"
------------------------------------------------
margd: Wonder if any protections from the Last-in-Time Doctrine? (Per Google AI: The "last-in-time" rule is a legal doctrine that resolves conflicts between treaties and federal statutes by giving precedence to the one enacted later in time. It applies when a self-executing treaty and a federal statute conflict, requiring courts to follow the later expression of the sovereign will of the United States.") My understanding is that the legislation that speaks in most detailed manner to an issue prevails?
"Lets explain how escalating/manufacturing a military confrontation with Venezuela gives the administration a legal “hook” to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, one of the oldest national-security laws still on the books. This statute allows a president to detain, restrict, or deport non-citizens from a country the U.S. is at war with or engaged in hostilities against. Under ordinary circumstances, the government cannot legally conduct mass detentions or broad, nationality-based deportations due-process protections, asylum law, and federal courts all create barriers that stop overreach. But by creating even a limited foreign conflict, the administration can claim that a state of hostilities exists, and once that designation is in place, the president can argue that Venezuelan nationals fall under wartime authority. Courts have historically granted wide deference to the executive branch when it claims war powers, which dramatically reduces judicial oversight. The political logic is simple: a foreign conflict is being used as a pretext to unlock a domestic tool that normally would be unconstitutional to deploy at scale.
To make this work, the administration would first escalate tensions military deployments, naval maneuvers in the Caribbean, airstrikes framed as “self-defense,” or any confrontation that can be described as an act of Venezuelan aggression. The president can then issue a proclamation stating that U.S. forces have been “engaged” or that “active hostilities” exist. A formal declaration of war is not required; even historically, the Alien Enemies Act has been triggered by presidential declarations of hostilities rather than votes in Congress. Once invoked, the law gives the executive the power to impose curfews, forced registration, GPS tracking, detention, or deportation of Venezuelan nationals with minimal due process. It essentially bypasses traditional immigration courts entirely. And although the statute would apply to Venezuelans on paper, the broader strategic goal is to create a legal precedent that wartime powers can be blended with immigration enforcement opening the door for future expansions to other nationalities or categories of immigrants simply by linking them to a “security threat.”
This is where the Stephen Miller influence is clearest. For years he has searched for statutory loopholes and obscure executive authorities that avoid judicial review. The Alien Enemies Act is particularly attractive because it is broad, vague, and historically under-challenged; it was written in an era with almost no constitutional protections for immigrants. Manufacturing an external conflict in order to invoke it is a textbook Miller tactic: create a crisis, use the crisis to claim extraordinary authority, and then apply that authority to carry out hardline domestic policy goals. The danger is not just for Venezuelans, it sets a precedent that any administration can engineer a foreign confrontation to justify suspending civil liberties, accelerating mass deportations, or targeting immigrant communities under the guise of “national security.” This all sounding familiar?"
------------------------------------------------
margd: Wonder if any protections from the Last-in-Time Doctrine? (Per Google AI: The "last-in-time" rule is a legal doctrine that resolves conflicts between treaties and federal statutes by giving precedence to the one enacted later in time. It applies when a self-executing treaty and a federal statute conflict, requiring courts to follow the later expression of the sovereign will of the United States.") My understanding is that the legislation that speaks in most detailed manner to an issue prevails?
125margd
Laurence Tribe 🇺🇦 ⚖️ {Harvard law Emiratus} @tribelaw | 8:49 AM · Dec 1, 2025:
"Department of Defense Law of War Manual, Sec. 18.3.2.1 states the "requirement" to refuse illegal orders.
What’s its key example? Wait for it . . . It’s "orders to fire upon the shipwrecked.""
"Department of Defense Law of War Manual, Sec. 18.3.2.1 states the "requirement" to refuse illegal orders.
What’s its key example? Wait for it . . . It’s "orders to fire upon the shipwrecked.""
126margd
>125 margd: contd.
White House says follow-up strike in the Caribbean was ordered by admiral acting "well within his authority"
Betsy Klein | 1 Dec 2025
"The White House said Monday that Adm. Frank M. “Mitch” Bradley, commander of the US Special Operations Command, was responsible for ordering a second, targeted strike on an alleged drug vessel operating in the Caribbean on September 2 after the first strike did not kill everyone aboard..."
https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-venezuela-ukraine-news-12-01-25
White House says follow-up strike in the Caribbean was ordered by admiral acting "well within his authority"
Betsy Klein | 1 Dec 2025
"The White House said Monday that Adm. Frank M. “Mitch” Bradley, commander of the US Special Operations Command, was responsible for ordering a second, targeted strike on an alleged drug vessel operating in the Caribbean on September 2 after the first strike did not kill everyone aboard..."
https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-venezuela-ukraine-news-12-01-25
127John5918
US lawmakers demand answers over Hegseth Venezuela boat strike claims (BBC)
US lawmakers are pressing the Trump administration for answers about military strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats, after a report alleged that a follow-up strike was ordered to kill survivors of an initial attack. Republican-led committees overseeing the Pentagon have vowed to conduct "vigorous oversight" into the US boat strikes in the Caribbean... The Washington Post reported that a US strike on a boat on 2 September left two survivors, but that a second attack was carried out to comply with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth's orders to "kill everybody" on board - raising fresh legality questions. Hegseth decried the report as "fake news"...
128margd
>126 margd: contd.
Mark Hertling @markhertling.bsky.social | Dec 1, 2025, 8:58 PM:
{Three-star general, retired}
It’s important to note from a military perspective that if a subordinate is about to give an unlawful order & his senior knows about it, it’s also a requirement for the senior official to stop him from executing it. And then counsel/discipline him.
So there’s that, too.
______________________________________
Entire Chain of Command Could Be Held Liable for Killing Boat Strike Survivors, Sources Say
Nick Turse | December 2 2025
"... The Washington Post recently reported that Hegseth personally ordered the follow-up attack, giving a spoken order “to kill everybody.” Multiple military legal experts, lawmakers, and now confidential sources within the government who spoke with The Intercept say Hegseth’s actions could result in the entire chain of command being investigated for a war crime or outright murder.
“Those directly involved in the strike could be charged with murder under the UCMJ or federal law,” said Todd Huntley, a former Staff Judge Advocate who served as a legal adviser on Joint Special Operations task forces conducting drone strikes in Afghanistan and elsewhere, using shorthand for the Uniform Code of Military Justice. “This is about as clear of a case being patently illegal that subordinates would probably not be able to successfully use a following-orders defense.”
... The Pentagon’s Law of War Manual is clear on attacking defenseless people. “Persons who have been rendered unconscious or otherwise incapacitated by wounds, sickness, or shipwreck, such that they are no longer capable of fighting, are hors de combat,” reads the guide using the French term for those out of combat. “Persons who have been incapacitated by wounds, sickness, or shipwreck are in a helpless state, and it would be dishonorable and inhumane to make them the object of attack.”
This fundamental tenet stretches back to the 1863 “Lieber Code,” the first modern codification of the laws of war, promulgated by President Abraham Lincoln, which held that anyone who “intentionally inflicts additional wounds on an enemy already wholly disabled, or kills such an enemy, or who orders or encourages soldiers to do so, shall suffer death, if duly convicted.”
Over the weekend, lawmakers expressed rare bipartisan agreement about the illegality of killing survivors..."
https://theintercept.com/2025/12/02/hegseth-boat-strikes-war-crime-venezuela/
Mark Hertling @markhertling.bsky.social | Dec 1, 2025, 8:58 PM:
{Three-star general, retired}
It’s important to note from a military perspective that if a subordinate is about to give an unlawful order & his senior knows about it, it’s also a requirement for the senior official to stop him from executing it. And then counsel/discipline him.
So there’s that, too.
______________________________________
Entire Chain of Command Could Be Held Liable for Killing Boat Strike Survivors, Sources Say
Nick Turse | December 2 2025
"... The Washington Post recently reported that Hegseth personally ordered the follow-up attack, giving a spoken order “to kill everybody.” Multiple military legal experts, lawmakers, and now confidential sources within the government who spoke with The Intercept say Hegseth’s actions could result in the entire chain of command being investigated for a war crime or outright murder.
“Those directly involved in the strike could be charged with murder under the UCMJ or federal law,” said Todd Huntley, a former Staff Judge Advocate who served as a legal adviser on Joint Special Operations task forces conducting drone strikes in Afghanistan and elsewhere, using shorthand for the Uniform Code of Military Justice. “This is about as clear of a case being patently illegal that subordinates would probably not be able to successfully use a following-orders defense.”
... The Pentagon’s Law of War Manual is clear on attacking defenseless people. “Persons who have been rendered unconscious or otherwise incapacitated by wounds, sickness, or shipwreck, such that they are no longer capable of fighting, are hors de combat,” reads the guide using the French term for those out of combat. “Persons who have been incapacitated by wounds, sickness, or shipwreck are in a helpless state, and it would be dishonorable and inhumane to make them the object of attack.”
This fundamental tenet stretches back to the 1863 “Lieber Code,” the first modern codification of the laws of war, promulgated by President Abraham Lincoln, which held that anyone who “intentionally inflicts additional wounds on an enemy already wholly disabled, or kills such an enemy, or who orders or encourages soldiers to do so, shall suffer death, if duly convicted.”
Over the weekend, lawmakers expressed rare bipartisan agreement about the illegality of killing survivors..."
https://theintercept.com/2025/12/02/hegseth-boat-strikes-war-crime-venezuela/
1292wonderY
>128 margd: It's about dang time Congress showed some spine!
Also
Publisher condemns 'violent' use of Franklin the Turtle after Pete Hegseth's boat strike post
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/publisher-condemns-use-fra...
“Franklin the Turtle is a beloved Canadian icon who has inspired generations of children and stands for kindness, empathy, and inclusivity,” the publishing house Kids Can Press wrote in a statement on X.
“We strongly condemn any denigrating, violent, or unauthorized use of Franklin’s name or image, which directly contradicts these values,” the statement read.
Chief Defense Department spokesperson Sean Parnell responded to the publisher in a statement, saying: “We doubt Franklin the Turtle wants to be inclusive of drug cartels… or laud the kindness and empathy of narco-terrorists.”
Also
Publisher condemns 'violent' use of Franklin the Turtle after Pete Hegseth's boat strike post
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/publisher-condemns-use-fra...
“Franklin the Turtle is a beloved Canadian icon who has inspired generations of children and stands for kindness, empathy, and inclusivity,” the publishing house Kids Can Press wrote in a statement on X.
“We strongly condemn any denigrating, violent, or unauthorized use of Franklin’s name or image, which directly contradicts these values,” the statement read.
Chief Defense Department spokesperson Sean Parnell responded to the publisher in a statement, saying: “We doubt Franklin the Turtle wants to be inclusive of drug cartels… or laud the kindness and empathy of narco-terrorists.”
130John5918
‘Cultivate resistance’: policy paper lays bare Trump support for Europe’s far right
Trump administration moves to deny visas to factcheckers and content moderators
Both from the Guardian
Donald Trump’s administration has said Europe faces “civilisational erasure” within the next two decades as a result of migration and EU integration, arguing in a policy document that the US must “cultivate resistance” within the continent to “Europe’s current trajectory”. Billed as “a roadmap to ensure America remains the greatest and most successful nation in human history and the home of freedom on earth”, the US National Security Strategy makes explicit Washington’s support for Europe’s nationalist far-right parties. The document, with a signed introduction by Trump, says Europe is in economic decline but its “real problems are even deeper”, including “activities of the EU that undermine political liberty and sovereignty, migration policies that are transforming the continent, censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition … and loss of national identities”...
Trump administration moves to deny visas to factcheckers and content moderators
Action detailed in a state department memo directs officials to deny visas to any applicant engaging in ‘censorship’...
Both from the Guardian
131John5918
Into the void: how Trump killed international law (Guardian)
The rules-based global order, its institutions and value system face a crisis of legitimacy and credibility as the US turns away...
132margd
Immigration officers claim sweeping power to enter homes without a judge's warrant, memo says
Rebecca Santana | Jan 22, 2026
"... an internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo {signed by the acting director of ICE, Todd Lyons, and dated May 12, 2025} ... authorizes ICE officers to use force to enter a residence based solely on a more narrow administrative warrant to arrest someone with a final order of removal, a move that advocates say collides with Fourth Amendment protections and upends years of advice given to immigrant communities.
... For years, immigrant advocates, legal aid groups and local governments have urged people not to open their doors to immigration agents unless they are shown a warrant signed by a judge. That guidance is rooted in Supreme Court rulings that generally prohibit law enforcement from entering a home without judicial approval. The ICE directive directly undercuts that advice at a time when arrests are accelerating under the administration's immigration crackdown.
The memo itself has not been widely shared within the agency, according to a whistleblower complaint, but its contents have been used to train new ICE officers who are being deployed into cities and towns to implement the president's immigration crackdown. New ICE hires and those still in training are being told to follow the memo's guidance instead of written training materials that actually contradict the memo...
... The memo ... says: "Although the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has not historically relied on administrative warrants alone to arrest aliens subject to final orders of removal in their place of residence, the DHS Office of the General Counsel has recently determined that the U.S. Constitution, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the immigration regulations do not prohibit relying on administrative warrants for this purpose... Should the alien refuse admittance, ICE officers and agents should use only a necessary and reasonable amount of force to enter the alien's residence, following proper notification of the officer or agent's authority and intent to enter."
... The memo is addressed to all ICE personnel. But it has been shown only to "select DHS officials" who then shared it with some employees who were told to read it and return it ..."
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/immigration-officers-claim-sweeping-power-to...
Rebecca Santana | Jan 22, 2026
"... an internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo {signed by the acting director of ICE, Todd Lyons, and dated May 12, 2025} ... authorizes ICE officers to use force to enter a residence based solely on a more narrow administrative warrant to arrest someone with a final order of removal, a move that advocates say collides with Fourth Amendment protections and upends years of advice given to immigrant communities.
... For years, immigrant advocates, legal aid groups and local governments have urged people not to open their doors to immigration agents unless they are shown a warrant signed by a judge. That guidance is rooted in Supreme Court rulings that generally prohibit law enforcement from entering a home without judicial approval. The ICE directive directly undercuts that advice at a time when arrests are accelerating under the administration's immigration crackdown.
The memo itself has not been widely shared within the agency, according to a whistleblower complaint, but its contents have been used to train new ICE officers who are being deployed into cities and towns to implement the president's immigration crackdown. New ICE hires and those still in training are being told to follow the memo's guidance instead of written training materials that actually contradict the memo...
... The memo ... says: "Although the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has not historically relied on administrative warrants alone to arrest aliens subject to final orders of removal in their place of residence, the DHS Office of the General Counsel has recently determined that the U.S. Constitution, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the immigration regulations do not prohibit relying on administrative warrants for this purpose... Should the alien refuse admittance, ICE officers and agents should use only a necessary and reasonable amount of force to enter the alien's residence, following proper notification of the officer or agent's authority and intent to enter."
... The memo is addressed to all ICE personnel. But it has been shown only to "select DHS officials" who then shared it with some employees who were told to read it and return it ..."
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/immigration-officers-claim-sweeping-power-to...
133John5918
Trump-led abuses amid ‘democratic recession’ put human rights in peril, HRW report says (Guardian)
The world is in a “democratic recession” with almost three-quarters of the global population now living under autocratic rulers – levels not seen since the 1980s, according to a new report. The system underpinning human rights was “in peril”, said Philippe Bolopion, executive director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), with a growing authoritarian wave becoming “the challenge of a generation”, he said... Bolopion said 2025 had been a “tipping point” for rights and freedoms in the US. In just 12 months, the Trump administration has carried out a broad assault on key pillars of American democracy and the global rules-based international order, which the US, despite inconsistencies, helped to establish. It was now working in the “opposite direction”, he said. Citing Donald Trump’s calls on Republicans this week to “nationalise” the US voting system and revelations that a member of an Emirati royal family was behind a $500m investment into the Trump family’s cryptocurrency company, Bolopion said: “Every day you see confirmation of this trend, but when you step back you see an organised, relentless, determined assault on all of the checks and balances that are meant to limit executive power in US democracy – a system designed to limit power and protect rights.” He called on democracies, including the UK, the European Union and Canada, to form a strategic alliance to preserve the rules-based international order, which is under threat from Trump, Russia and China...
134John5918
In America, the social fabric is starting to collapse. Australia must also learn that words shape our world (Guardian) by Martin Luther King III
As I travel the world, I am reminded again and again that the health of a society is revealed not only in its laws or its institutions but in the way its people speak to, and about, one another. My father taught that nonviolence begins with language and the discipline to choose words that uplift rather than degrade, that clarify rather than distort and that build community rather than fracture it. Last month in the United States, we marked the holiday that bears his name at a time when our own social cohesion is under immense strain. The rhetoric of public life has grown sharper, more cynical and more divisive. Too often, we speak as if our neighbours are adversaries rather than fellow citizens. But this erosion of respect is not unique to America. It is a global challenge and Australia is not exempt...
1352wonderY
Five year olds are denied release bonds because they lack adequate assets
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTh9M67nw/
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTh9M67nw/
136John5918
International humanitarian law is at risk – but it still carries weight (Guardian)
By the former executive director of Human Rights Watch.
A study says IHL is at ‘critical breaking point’ amid horrendous violations in Gaza, Sudan and elsewhere. But to declare its demise would be premature...
By the former executive director of Human Rights Watch.
137jjwilson61
If something is at it's breaking point, it's on the verge of breaking, and a critical breaking point just intensifies that. So to declare that it's "demise would be premature" in the next sentence seems almost contradictory, not directly contradictory because it hasn't died yet, but it's apparently right on the edge.
138margd
Large banner of Trump unfurled at Justice Department headquarters
Raquel Coronell Uribe | Feb 19, 2026
"... The Justice Department has traditionally operated with a degree of independence from the White House. That separation, however, has eroded during Trump’s second term as the Justice Department has gone after his perceived political foes ..."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/large-banner-of-trump-unfurled-at-justic...
Raquel Coronell Uribe | Feb 19, 2026
"... The Justice Department has traditionally operated with a degree of independence from the White House. That separation, however, has eroded during Trump’s second term as the Justice Department has gone after his perceived political foes ..."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/large-banner-of-trump-unfurled-at-justic...
139margd
Joyce Alene @JoyceWhiteVance | 10:35 AM · Feb 20, 2026
UALawSchool {Alabama}|MSNOW|#SistersInLaw & Cafe Insider|Obama US Atty |25 year fed'l prosecutor
A 6-3 Court tells Trump he lacks the power to impose tariffs under IEEPA
https://x.com/JoyceWhiteVance/status/2024863384756220047/photo/1
The most shocking thing about this decision: 3 Justices would have let Trump use a statute that doesn’t mention tariffs to impose unrestricted ones.
UALawSchool {Alabama}|MSNOW|#SistersInLaw & Cafe Insider|Obama US Atty |25 year fed'l prosecutor
A 6-3 Court tells Trump he lacks the power to impose tariffs under IEEPA
https://x.com/JoyceWhiteVance/status/2024863384756220047/photo/1
The most shocking thing about this decision: 3 Justices would have let Trump use a statute that doesn’t mention tariffs to impose unrestricted ones.
140margd
Justin Wolfers @JustinWolfers | 10:14 AM · Feb 20, 2026
Professor @UMichEcon & @FordSchool | Senior Fellow @BrookingsInst | Intro Econ textbook author
Key issue to bear in mind as you watch today's political response to the Supreme Court tariff decision: The Court didn't say that the US can't issue tariffs, simply that the President has to convince (the Republican-controlled) Congress first. If tariffs are a great idea, that should be an easy argument to win. (Spoiler: They're not.)
Professor @UMichEcon & @FordSchool | Senior Fellow @BrookingsInst | Intro Econ textbook author
Key issue to bear in mind as you watch today's political response to the Supreme Court tariff decision: The Court didn't say that the US can't issue tariffs, simply that the President has to convince (the Republican-controlled) Congress first. If tariffs are a great idea, that should be an easy argument to win. (Spoiler: They're not.)
1412wonderY
Police have arrested an adult who joined a FaceBook chat to praise and encourage high schoolers planning an ICE protest event. She has been charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor
Dinah Marie Chollet
Summerville, South Carolina
https://www.newsweek.com/woman-charged-after-joining-anti-ice-teen-group-chat-11...
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZThVx52ec/
Dinah Marie Chollet
Summerville, South Carolina
https://www.newsweek.com/woman-charged-after-joining-anti-ice-teen-group-chat-11...
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZThVx52ec/
142alco261
>141 2wonderY: - no surprises there - after all, Trump and company have declared the 1st and 4th amendments null and void and, with the help of the obsequious bags of wind at the NRA, who just love to rant and rave as long as there are no real consequences for themselves, I'm sure the 2nd will soon follow.
143margd
Angry Staffer @Angry_Staffer | 9:04 AM · Feb 21, 2026:
I believe in giving credit where it’s due. Hang the entire Gorsuch concurrence in the Louvre.
Master class in telling your colleagues they’ve lost their fucking minds.
{Justice Gorsuch, concurring, Trump v VOS Selections et al, 20 Feb 2026}
https://x.com/Angry_Staffer/status/2025210138857021631/photo/1
https://x.com/Angry_Staffer/status/2025210138857021631/photo/2
https://x.com/Angry_Staffer/status/2025210138857021631/photo/3
https://x.com/Angry_Staffer/status/2025210138857021631/photo/4
I believe in giving credit where it’s due. Hang the entire Gorsuch concurrence in the Louvre.
Master class in telling your colleagues they’ve lost their fucking minds.
{Justice Gorsuch, concurring, Trump v VOS Selections et al, 20 Feb 2026}
https://x.com/Angry_Staffer/status/2025210138857021631/photo/1
https://x.com/Angry_Staffer/status/2025210138857021631/photo/2
https://x.com/Angry_Staffer/status/2025210138857021631/photo/3
https://x.com/Angry_Staffer/status/2025210138857021631/photo/4
144margd
Republicans against Trump @RpsAgainstTrump | 12:55 PM · Feb 19, 2026:
"BREAKING: In an extraordinary and illegal move, Trump says he’s transferring $10 billion from the U.S. government to his “Board of Peace,” which he chairs and can use the funds as he wishes.
Where is Congress???"
(0:32) https://x.com/RpsAgainstTrump/status/2024543466248692069
---------------------------------------
Seth Abramson @SethAbramson | 7:41 PM · Feb 19, 2026:
NYT bestselling Trump biographer. Lawyer. Songwriter. Journalism professor (retired).
This is a crime. If you read the Board of Peace charter, you understand it has nothing to do with the American government; it's a private entity Trump created for his own enrichment. This is an impeachable offense, and if this country were not broken he would be gone by tomorrow.
"BREAKING: In an extraordinary and illegal move, Trump says he’s transferring $10 billion from the U.S. government to his “Board of Peace,” which he chairs and can use the funds as he wishes.
Where is Congress???"
(0:32) https://x.com/RpsAgainstTrump/status/2024543466248692069
---------------------------------------
Seth Abramson @SethAbramson | 7:41 PM · Feb 19, 2026:
NYT bestselling Trump biographer. Lawyer. Songwriter. Journalism professor (retired).
This is a crime. If you read the Board of Peace charter, you understand it has nothing to do with the American government; it's a private entity Trump created for his own enrichment. This is an impeachable offense, and if this country were not broken he would be gone by tomorrow.
145margd
{Trump Truth Social} https://x.com/EdKrassen/status/2025364557040881844/photo/1
--------------------------------------
Ed Krassenstein @EdKrassen | 7:18 PM · Feb 21, 2026 {X}
Are Republicans OK with Trump threatening an American company to fire someone who doesn’t support him politically?
America is slipping into authoritarianism and Trump supporters are cheering it on!
--------------------------------------
Ed Krassenstein @EdKrassen | 7:18 PM · Feb 21, 2026 {X}
Are Republicans OK with Trump threatening an American company to fire someone who doesn’t support him politically?
America is slipping into authoritarianism and Trump supporters are cheering it on!
146margd
Isaac Saul @Ike_Saul | 5:46 PM · Feb 27, 2026: {X.com}
Founder @tanglenews. Fighting partisan nonsense and looking for the truth. Probably not on your team.
"No administration of my lifetime has been more antagonistic toward the private sector, free markets, and free trade. All the warnings of socialists and Democratic overreaches and government intrusion — it's all worse in reality right now than ever before. Just remarkable."
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth @SecWar | 5:14 PM · Feb 27, 2026:
https://x.com/SecWar/status/2027507717469049070
-----------------------------------------------
Trump blacklists Anthropic — and OpenAI swoops in
William Gavin | Feb. 28, 2026
"President Donald Trump on Friday ordered the U.S. government to stop using Anthropic’s artificial-intelligence models and threatened the company with “major” consequences.
“Anthropic better get their act together, and be helpful during this phase out period, or I will use the Full Power of the Presidency to make them comply, with major civil and criminal consequences to follow,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
Trump directed all federal agencies to immediately stop using Anthropic’s Claude AI models. He added that the Department of Defense and other U.S. agencies have six months to phase out Anthropic’s technology.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said in a blog post that his company ”tried in good faith to reach an agreement with the Department of War,” using the name the Trump administration prefers for the Pentagon, “making clear that we support all lawful uses of AI for national security aside from the two narrow exceptions.”
The company does “not believe that today’s frontier AI models are reliable enough to be used in fully autonomous weapons,” he added. And, he said, the team at Anthropic believes “that mass domestic surveillance of Americans constitutes a violation of fundamental rights.”
... Following Trump’s announcement, Hegseth formally declared Anthropic a supply-chain risk to national security, a designation previously applied only to foreign companies, notably those based in China and believed to be under government influence. As a result of Hegseth’s action, no contractor, supplier or partner that does business with the U.S. military can conduct “any commercial activity” with Anthropic.
... Elon Musk’s xAI signed a deal to allow its controversial Grok model to be used for classified purposes earlier this week. Officials at multiple federal agencies have raised concerns over potential safety issues with Grok ..."
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-blacklists-anthropic-opening-the-door-to...
Founder @tanglenews. Fighting partisan nonsense and looking for the truth. Probably not on your team.
"No administration of my lifetime has been more antagonistic toward the private sector, free markets, and free trade. All the warnings of socialists and Democratic overreaches and government intrusion — it's all worse in reality right now than ever before. Just remarkable."
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth @SecWar | 5:14 PM · Feb 27, 2026:
https://x.com/SecWar/status/2027507717469049070
-----------------------------------------------
Trump blacklists Anthropic — and OpenAI swoops in
William Gavin | Feb. 28, 2026
"President Donald Trump on Friday ordered the U.S. government to stop using Anthropic’s artificial-intelligence models and threatened the company with “major” consequences.
“Anthropic better get their act together, and be helpful during this phase out period, or I will use the Full Power of the Presidency to make them comply, with major civil and criminal consequences to follow,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
Trump directed all federal agencies to immediately stop using Anthropic’s Claude AI models. He added that the Department of Defense and other U.S. agencies have six months to phase out Anthropic’s technology.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said in a blog post that his company ”tried in good faith to reach an agreement with the Department of War,” using the name the Trump administration prefers for the Pentagon, “making clear that we support all lawful uses of AI for national security aside from the two narrow exceptions.”
The company does “not believe that today’s frontier AI models are reliable enough to be used in fully autonomous weapons,” he added. And, he said, the team at Anthropic believes “that mass domestic surveillance of Americans constitutes a violation of fundamental rights.”
... Following Trump’s announcement, Hegseth formally declared Anthropic a supply-chain risk to national security, a designation previously applied only to foreign companies, notably those based in China and believed to be under government influence. As a result of Hegseth’s action, no contractor, supplier or partner that does business with the U.S. military can conduct “any commercial activity” with Anthropic.
... Elon Musk’s xAI signed a deal to allow its controversial Grok model to be used for classified purposes earlier this week. Officials at multiple federal agencies have raised concerns over potential safety issues with Grok ..."
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-blacklists-anthropic-opening-the-door-to...
147margd
Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social | 7:40 AM · Mar 23, 2026:
Policy Professor, Ford School, University of Michigan. Irish immigrant. Administrative burdens guy.
https://bsky.app/profile/donmoyn.bsky.social/post/3mhpxzfnsss2f
"New, from me: The federal government is required to track job satisfaction among its employees.
The Trump admin stopped collecting the data, so a nonprofit stepped in.
The results show that a collapse in morale and zero trust in Trump agency leaders."
-----------------------------------------------
Federal government employees are not ok
A new survey shows collapsing morale amidst ineffective leadership
Don Moynihan | Mar 23, 2026
"... A new data point shows just how bad things have gotten:
➡️ Federal employee engagement and satisfaction is only 32% and more than 58% of employees say they are less engaged than they were last year
➡️ Only 7.5% of survey respondents agreed that political leaders generate high levels of motivation for the federal workforce
➡️ Only 1 in 4 employees believe they can report wrongdoing without retribution
➡️ 36.5% of the federal workforce say their work unit provides worse quality services compared to last year..
https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/federal-employees-are-not-ok
Policy Professor, Ford School, University of Michigan. Irish immigrant. Administrative burdens guy.
https://bsky.app/profile/donmoyn.bsky.social/post/3mhpxzfnsss2f
"New, from me: The federal government is required to track job satisfaction among its employees.
The Trump admin stopped collecting the data, so a nonprofit stepped in.
The results show that a collapse in morale and zero trust in Trump agency leaders."
-----------------------------------------------
Federal government employees are not ok
A new survey shows collapsing morale amidst ineffective leadership
Don Moynihan | Mar 23, 2026
"... A new data point shows just how bad things have gotten:
➡️ Federal employee engagement and satisfaction is only 32% and more than 58% of employees say they are less engaged than they were last year
➡️ Only 7.5% of survey respondents agreed that political leaders generate high levels of motivation for the federal workforce
➡️ Only 1 in 4 employees believe they can report wrongdoing without retribution
➡️ 36.5% of the federal workforce say their work unit provides worse quality services compared to last year..
https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/federal-employees-are-not-ok
148margd
Trump Throws Stephen Miller Under the Bus in Surprise Show of Panic
Greg Sargent / March 24, 2026
"... Trump wants to “lower the profile of his mass deportation effort,” the {Wall Street} Journal reveals. He wants voters to think the targets of these deportations are “bad guys,” not noncriminal undocumented residents. He wants less visibility for ICE raids in cities, fewer public confrontations with local officials, and less public talk about “mass deportations,” which, he now grasps, are hideously unpopular.
Tellingly, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles now sees deportations as a liability for the midterms ... Trump mostly wants the appearance of a pivot: According to the Journal, he wants a focus on “criminals” in GOP “messaging.”
... Miller just met with Texas state legislators and floated a truly extreme proposal. The New York Times reports that Miller discussed the idea of ending state public funding for the education of undocumented children, and asked the lawmakers why they hadn’t passed a bill limiting funding for education so it only goes to kids who are citizens or are lawfully present in the United States.
... Getting a red state to attempt this would run afoul of a 1982 Supreme Court decision, which blocked states from denying public education to young people based on immigration status. Plyler v. Doe is not as well known as the other big civil rights rulings, but it’s momentous: It held that restricting public education this way would violate the Fourteenth Amendment’s enshrinement of equal protection before the law.
... court battle—possibly providing an opening for the right-wing court to overturn Plyler ... would be seismic. The basic principle at issue is whether these kids are to be regarded as equal persons despite being undocumented. The Burger court found that denying them education would relegate them to an unacceptable subclass status. As immigration law scholar Hiroshi Motomura explains, the ruling embodied the idea that “the emergence of a permanent subcaste is intolerable within a national constitutional culture based on equality.”
Miller really wants to end that “constitutional culture based on equality.” It’s hard to know whether Texas lawmakers will do his bidding—or how the high court would rule if they did. But if it worked, other red states with many immigrant families in them could follow.
... This would immeasurably impoverish our nation, but the effort advances Miller’s ideological project in still another sense. Trump wants the Supreme Court to rule in favor of his 2025 executive order ending birthright citizenship. That of course also involves the Fourteenth Amendment—its guarantee that all persons born in the United States are automatic citizens..."
https://newrepublic.com/article/208114/trump-stephen-miller-immigration-panic
Greg Sargent / March 24, 2026
"... Trump wants to “lower the profile of his mass deportation effort,” the {Wall Street} Journal reveals. He wants voters to think the targets of these deportations are “bad guys,” not noncriminal undocumented residents. He wants less visibility for ICE raids in cities, fewer public confrontations with local officials, and less public talk about “mass deportations,” which, he now grasps, are hideously unpopular.
Tellingly, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles now sees deportations as a liability for the midterms ... Trump mostly wants the appearance of a pivot: According to the Journal, he wants a focus on “criminals” in GOP “messaging.”
... Miller just met with Texas state legislators and floated a truly extreme proposal. The New York Times reports that Miller discussed the idea of ending state public funding for the education of undocumented children, and asked the lawmakers why they hadn’t passed a bill limiting funding for education so it only goes to kids who are citizens or are lawfully present in the United States.
... Getting a red state to attempt this would run afoul of a 1982 Supreme Court decision, which blocked states from denying public education to young people based on immigration status. Plyler v. Doe is not as well known as the other big civil rights rulings, but it’s momentous: It held that restricting public education this way would violate the Fourteenth Amendment’s enshrinement of equal protection before the law.
... court battle—possibly providing an opening for the right-wing court to overturn Plyler ... would be seismic. The basic principle at issue is whether these kids are to be regarded as equal persons despite being undocumented. The Burger court found that denying them education would relegate them to an unacceptable subclass status. As immigration law scholar Hiroshi Motomura explains, the ruling embodied the idea that “the emergence of a permanent subcaste is intolerable within a national constitutional culture based on equality.”
Miller really wants to end that “constitutional culture based on equality.” It’s hard to know whether Texas lawmakers will do his bidding—or how the high court would rule if they did. But if it worked, other red states with many immigrant families in them could follow.
... This would immeasurably impoverish our nation, but the effort advances Miller’s ideological project in still another sense. Trump wants the Supreme Court to rule in favor of his 2025 executive order ending birthright citizenship. That of course also involves the Fourteenth Amendment—its guarantee that all persons born in the United States are automatic citizens..."
https://newrepublic.com/article/208114/trump-stephen-miller-immigration-panic
149margd
Robert Reich* | March 29 at 6:01 PM {Facebook}
"Mere months into 2026, just 50 American billionaires have already pumped a jaw-dropping $433 MILLION into the midterm elections — the overwhelming majority of which has benefitted Republicans.
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." –Justice Louis Brandeis
Words spoken many years ago that are just as relevant today. We must continue the fight to get big money out of politics.
Citizens United is corrupting our system every day.
{Bar graph, top 15 billionaire-family election spenders}
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1483663119793797&set=a.397968961696557 "
--------------------------------------------------
* Robert B. Reich is Professor of Public Policy emeritus at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, including as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton, for which Time Magazine named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the twentieth century. In 2003 he received the Václav Havel Foundation Prize from the former Czech president for his pioneering work in economic and social thought.
Professor Reich has written 18 books, including the best- sellers The Work of Nations, Aftershock, and The System: Who Rigged It and How We Fix It.
"Mere months into 2026, just 50 American billionaires have already pumped a jaw-dropping $433 MILLION into the midterm elections — the overwhelming majority of which has benefitted Republicans.
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." –Justice Louis Brandeis
Words spoken many years ago that are just as relevant today. We must continue the fight to get big money out of politics.
Citizens United is corrupting our system every day.
{Bar graph, top 15 billionaire-family election spenders}
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1483663119793797&set=a.397968961696557 "
--------------------------------------------------
* Robert B. Reich is Professor of Public Policy emeritus at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, including as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton, for which Time Magazine named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the twentieth century. In 2003 he received the Václav Havel Foundation Prize from the former Czech president for his pioneering work in economic and social thought.
Professor Reich has written 18 books, including the best- sellers The Work of Nations, Aftershock, and The System: Who Rigged It and How We Fix It.
150margd
Trump signs a new executive order on voting. Experts say he lacks the authority
Ashley Lopez, Benjamin Swasey | March 31, 2026
"... create lists of U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote in each state, and instructing the U.S. Postal Service to send mail ballots only to verified voters ..."
https://www.npr.org/2026/03/31/nx-s1-5508948/trump-voter-list-mail-ballots-execu...
Ashley Lopez, Benjamin Swasey | March 31, 2026
"... create lists of U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote in each state, and instructing the U.S. Postal Service to send mail ballots only to verified voters ..."
https://www.npr.org/2026/03/31/nx-s1-5508948/trump-voter-list-mail-ballots-execu...
151margd
Topic of the day: birthright citizenship. First I've heard that Bondi and Lutnick accompanied Trump to Supreme Court oral arguments. Truly a crass power move, and one that probably had no effect on outcome, if not backfiring.
Heather Cox Richardson (historian Boston College) | April 1, 2026 (Facebook)
"Today, for the first time in U.S. history, a sitting president attended oral arguments at the United States Supreme Court. President Donald J. Trump broke precedent to take a seat in the front row of the Supreme Court’s public seating area, alongside Attorney General Pam Bondi and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, to observe arguments in the case of Trump v. Barbara, a case under which Trump hopes to end the birthright citizenship guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.
The case argued before the court today grew out of Trump’s executive order of January 20, 2025, the day he took the oath of office a second time, titled “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship.” Fulfilling a campaign promise, the order declared that, contrary to the Fourteenth Amendment, individuals born in the United States are not citizens if their parents do not have legal permanent status.
With the help of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other partners, three families who represented the many people endangered by this order sued the administration. Barbara, for whom the case is named, is an applicant for asylum from Honduras whose baby was due after the order was set to go into effect.
Trump has called for ending birthright citizenship since his first term as part of his appeal to his racist supporters who want to end Black and Brown equality in the United States. But his argument would overturn the central idea of the United States articulated in the Declaration of Independence, that we are all created equal.
The Fourteenth Amendment that established birthright citizenship came out of a very specific moment and addressed a specific problem. After the Civil War ended in 1865, former Confederates in the American South denied their Black neighbors basic rights. To remedy the problem, the Republican Congress passed a civil rights bill in 1866 establishing “that all persons born in the United States and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians, not taxed, are hereby declared to be citizens of the United States; and such citizens of every race and color…shall have the same rights in every State and Territory in the United States.”
But President Andrew Johnson, who was a southern Democrat elected in 1864 on a union ticket with President Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, vetoed the 1866 Civil Rights Bill. While the Republican Party organized in the 1850s to fight the idea that there should be different classes of Americans based on race, Democrats tended to support racial discrimination. In that era, not only Black Americans, but also Irish, Chinese, Mexican, and Indigenous Americans, faced discriminatory state laws.
In contrast to the Democrats, Republicans stated explicitly in their 1860 platform that they were “opposed to any change in our naturalization laws or any state legislation by which the rights of citizens hitherto accorded to immigrants from foreign lands shall be abridged or impaired; and in favor of giving a full and efficient protection to the rights of all classes of citizens, whether native or naturalized, both at home and abroad.”
When Republicans tried to enshrine civil rights into federal law in 1866, Johnson objected that the proposed law “comprehends the Chinese of the Pacific States, Indians subject to taxation, the people called Gipsies, as well as the entire race designated as blacks,” as citizens, and noted that if “all persons who are native-born already are, by virtue of the Constitution, citizens of the United States, the passage of the pending bill cannot be necessary to make them such.” And if they weren’t already citizens, he wrote, Congress should not pass a law “to make our entire colored population and all other excepted classes citizens of the United States” when eleven southern states were not represented in Congress.
When Congress wrote the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, it took Johnson’s admonition to heart. It did not confer citizenship on the groups Johnson outlined; it simply acknowledged that the Constitution had already established their citizenship. The first sentence of the Fourteenth Amendment reads: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
In the short term, Americans recognized that the Fourteenth Amendment overturned the 1857 Dred Scott v. Sandford decision, in which the Supreme Court ruled that people of African descent “are not included, and were not intended to be included, under the word ‘citizens’ in the Constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United States.” The Fourteenth Amendment established that Black men were citizens.
But the question of whether the amendment recognized birthright citizenship for all immigrants quickly became an issue in the American West, where white settlers were not terribly concerned about Black Americans—there were only 4,272 Black Americans in California in 1870, while there were almost half a million white Americans—but wanted no part of allowing Chinese men to be part of American society.
Western state legislatures continued to discriminate against Asian immigrants by falling back on the country’s early naturalization laws, finalized in 1802, to exclude first Chinese immigrants and then others from citizenship. Those laws were carefully designed to clarify that Afro-Caribbeans and Africans—imported to be enslaved—would not have the same rights as Euro-Americans. Those laws permitted only “free white persons” to become citizens.
In the late nineteenth century, state and territorial legal systems kept people of color at the margins, using treaties, military actions, and territorial and state laws that limited land ownership, suffrage, and intermarriage.
As late as 1922, in the case of Takao Ozawa v. United States, the Supreme Court ruled that Takao Ozawa, born in Japan, could not become a citizen under the 1906 Naturalization Act because that law had not overridden the 1790 naturalization law limiting citizenship to “free white persons.” The court decided that “white person” meant “persons of the Caucasian Race.” “A Japanese, born in Japan, being clearly not a Caucasian, cannot be made a citizen of the United States,” it said.
The next year, the Supreme Court decision in United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind upheld the argument that only “free white persons” could become citizens. In that case, the court said that Thind, an Indian Sikh man who identified himself as Indo-European, could not become a U.S. citizen because he was not a “white person” under U.S. law, and only “free white persons” could become citizens. After the Thind decision, the United States stripped the citizenship of about fifty South Asian Americans who had already become American citizens.
Those discriminatory laws would stand until after World War II, when U.S. calculations of who could be a citizen shifted along with global alliances and Americans of all backgrounds turned out to save democracy.
But despite the longstanding use of laws designed to perpetuate human enslavement to prevent certain immigrants from becoming citizens, the Supreme Court always upheld the citizenship of their children. In 1882, during a period of racist hysteria, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act agreeing that Chinese immigrants could not become citizens.
Wong Kim Ark was born around 1873, the child of Chinese parents who were merchants in San Francisco. In 1889 he traveled with his parents when they repatriated to China, where he married. He then returned to the U.S., leaving his wife behind, and was readmitted. After another trip to China in 1894, though, customs officials denied him reentry to the U.S. in 1895, claiming he was a Chinese subject because his parents were Chinese.
Wong sued, and his lawsuit was the first to climb all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, thanks to the government’s recognition that with the U.S. in the middle of an immigration boom, the question of birthright citizenship must be addressed. In the 1898 U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark decision, the court held by a vote of 6–2 that Wong was a citizen because he was born in the United States.
Immigration scholar Hidetaka Hirota of the University of California, Berkeley, explains that the government went even further to protect children born in the U.S. In 1889 the Treasury Department—which then oversaw immigration—decided that a native-born child could not be sent out of the country with her foreign-born mother. Nor did the government want to hurt the U.S. citizen by expelling her mother and leaving her without a guardian. So it admitted the foreign-born mother to take care of the citizen child.
The Treasury concluded that it was not “the intention of Congress to sever the sacred ties existing between parent and child, or forcibly banish and expatriate a native-born child for the reason that its parent is a pauper.”
In May 2023, then–presidential candidate Donald J. Trump released a video promising that on “Day One” of a new presidential term, he would issue an executive order that would end birthright citizenship. He claimed that the understanding that anyone born in the United States is automatically a citizen is “based on an historical myth, and a willful misinterpretation of the law by the open borders advocates.”
But one judge after another has sided against him on this issue, and he apparently showed up at the Supreme Court today to try to intimidate the three judges who owe their seats on the bench to him into supporting his own radical reworking of one of the key principles of our nation. He left after an hour and a half, before Cecillia Wang, the ACLU lawyer arguing for the plaintiffs, began to speak.
Later, Wang described what it was like to argue in court today. She explained, it’s “a nerve-wracking experience to argue any case in the Supreme Court, and especially one as weighty as this one, where the president of the United States is taking aim at a cherished American tradition and individual right of citizenship based on your birth in this country. I myself am a Fourteenth Amendment citizen because my parents had not yet naturalized when I was born. So I walked in today with the spirit of my parents and so many people's ancestors in that first generation of Americans—whether they naturalized or not, I consider them all Americans. They came to this country with hopes and dreams, and they gave birth to future Americans, and that's us.”"
Heather Cox Richardson (historian Boston College) | April 1, 2026 (Facebook)
"Today, for the first time in U.S. history, a sitting president attended oral arguments at the United States Supreme Court. President Donald J. Trump broke precedent to take a seat in the front row of the Supreme Court’s public seating area, alongside Attorney General Pam Bondi and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, to observe arguments in the case of Trump v. Barbara, a case under which Trump hopes to end the birthright citizenship guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.
The case argued before the court today grew out of Trump’s executive order of January 20, 2025, the day he took the oath of office a second time, titled “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship.” Fulfilling a campaign promise, the order declared that, contrary to the Fourteenth Amendment, individuals born in the United States are not citizens if their parents do not have legal permanent status.
With the help of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other partners, three families who represented the many people endangered by this order sued the administration. Barbara, for whom the case is named, is an applicant for asylum from Honduras whose baby was due after the order was set to go into effect.
Trump has called for ending birthright citizenship since his first term as part of his appeal to his racist supporters who want to end Black and Brown equality in the United States. But his argument would overturn the central idea of the United States articulated in the Declaration of Independence, that we are all created equal.
The Fourteenth Amendment that established birthright citizenship came out of a very specific moment and addressed a specific problem. After the Civil War ended in 1865, former Confederates in the American South denied their Black neighbors basic rights. To remedy the problem, the Republican Congress passed a civil rights bill in 1866 establishing “that all persons born in the United States and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians, not taxed, are hereby declared to be citizens of the United States; and such citizens of every race and color…shall have the same rights in every State and Territory in the United States.”
But President Andrew Johnson, who was a southern Democrat elected in 1864 on a union ticket with President Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, vetoed the 1866 Civil Rights Bill. While the Republican Party organized in the 1850s to fight the idea that there should be different classes of Americans based on race, Democrats tended to support racial discrimination. In that era, not only Black Americans, but also Irish, Chinese, Mexican, and Indigenous Americans, faced discriminatory state laws.
In contrast to the Democrats, Republicans stated explicitly in their 1860 platform that they were “opposed to any change in our naturalization laws or any state legislation by which the rights of citizens hitherto accorded to immigrants from foreign lands shall be abridged or impaired; and in favor of giving a full and efficient protection to the rights of all classes of citizens, whether native or naturalized, both at home and abroad.”
When Republicans tried to enshrine civil rights into federal law in 1866, Johnson objected that the proposed law “comprehends the Chinese of the Pacific States, Indians subject to taxation, the people called Gipsies, as well as the entire race designated as blacks,” as citizens, and noted that if “all persons who are native-born already are, by virtue of the Constitution, citizens of the United States, the passage of the pending bill cannot be necessary to make them such.” And if they weren’t already citizens, he wrote, Congress should not pass a law “to make our entire colored population and all other excepted classes citizens of the United States” when eleven southern states were not represented in Congress.
When Congress wrote the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, it took Johnson’s admonition to heart. It did not confer citizenship on the groups Johnson outlined; it simply acknowledged that the Constitution had already established their citizenship. The first sentence of the Fourteenth Amendment reads: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
In the short term, Americans recognized that the Fourteenth Amendment overturned the 1857 Dred Scott v. Sandford decision, in which the Supreme Court ruled that people of African descent “are not included, and were not intended to be included, under the word ‘citizens’ in the Constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United States.” The Fourteenth Amendment established that Black men were citizens.
But the question of whether the amendment recognized birthright citizenship for all immigrants quickly became an issue in the American West, where white settlers were not terribly concerned about Black Americans—there were only 4,272 Black Americans in California in 1870, while there were almost half a million white Americans—but wanted no part of allowing Chinese men to be part of American society.
Western state legislatures continued to discriminate against Asian immigrants by falling back on the country’s early naturalization laws, finalized in 1802, to exclude first Chinese immigrants and then others from citizenship. Those laws were carefully designed to clarify that Afro-Caribbeans and Africans—imported to be enslaved—would not have the same rights as Euro-Americans. Those laws permitted only “free white persons” to become citizens.
In the late nineteenth century, state and territorial legal systems kept people of color at the margins, using treaties, military actions, and territorial and state laws that limited land ownership, suffrage, and intermarriage.
As late as 1922, in the case of Takao Ozawa v. United States, the Supreme Court ruled that Takao Ozawa, born in Japan, could not become a citizen under the 1906 Naturalization Act because that law had not overridden the 1790 naturalization law limiting citizenship to “free white persons.” The court decided that “white person” meant “persons of the Caucasian Race.” “A Japanese, born in Japan, being clearly not a Caucasian, cannot be made a citizen of the United States,” it said.
The next year, the Supreme Court decision in United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind upheld the argument that only “free white persons” could become citizens. In that case, the court said that Thind, an Indian Sikh man who identified himself as Indo-European, could not become a U.S. citizen because he was not a “white person” under U.S. law, and only “free white persons” could become citizens. After the Thind decision, the United States stripped the citizenship of about fifty South Asian Americans who had already become American citizens.
Those discriminatory laws would stand until after World War II, when U.S. calculations of who could be a citizen shifted along with global alliances and Americans of all backgrounds turned out to save democracy.
But despite the longstanding use of laws designed to perpetuate human enslavement to prevent certain immigrants from becoming citizens, the Supreme Court always upheld the citizenship of their children. In 1882, during a period of racist hysteria, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act agreeing that Chinese immigrants could not become citizens.
Wong Kim Ark was born around 1873, the child of Chinese parents who were merchants in San Francisco. In 1889 he traveled with his parents when they repatriated to China, where he married. He then returned to the U.S., leaving his wife behind, and was readmitted. After another trip to China in 1894, though, customs officials denied him reentry to the U.S. in 1895, claiming he was a Chinese subject because his parents were Chinese.
Wong sued, and his lawsuit was the first to climb all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, thanks to the government’s recognition that with the U.S. in the middle of an immigration boom, the question of birthright citizenship must be addressed. In the 1898 U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark decision, the court held by a vote of 6–2 that Wong was a citizen because he was born in the United States.
Immigration scholar Hidetaka Hirota of the University of California, Berkeley, explains that the government went even further to protect children born in the U.S. In 1889 the Treasury Department—which then oversaw immigration—decided that a native-born child could not be sent out of the country with her foreign-born mother. Nor did the government want to hurt the U.S. citizen by expelling her mother and leaving her without a guardian. So it admitted the foreign-born mother to take care of the citizen child.
The Treasury concluded that it was not “the intention of Congress to sever the sacred ties existing between parent and child, or forcibly banish and expatriate a native-born child for the reason that its parent is a pauper.”
In May 2023, then–presidential candidate Donald J. Trump released a video promising that on “Day One” of a new presidential term, he would issue an executive order that would end birthright citizenship. He claimed that the understanding that anyone born in the United States is automatically a citizen is “based on an historical myth, and a willful misinterpretation of the law by the open borders advocates.”
But one judge after another has sided against him on this issue, and he apparently showed up at the Supreme Court today to try to intimidate the three judges who owe their seats on the bench to him into supporting his own radical reworking of one of the key principles of our nation. He left after an hour and a half, before Cecillia Wang, the ACLU lawyer arguing for the plaintiffs, began to speak.
Later, Wang described what it was like to argue in court today. She explained, it’s “a nerve-wracking experience to argue any case in the Supreme Court, and especially one as weighty as this one, where the president of the United States is taking aim at a cherished American tradition and individual right of citizenship based on your birth in this country. I myself am a Fourteenth Amendment citizen because my parents had not yet naturalized when I was born. So I walked in today with the spirit of my parents and so many people's ancestors in that first generation of Americans—whether they naturalized or not, I consider them all Americans. They came to this country with hopes and dreams, and they gave birth to future Americans, and that's us.”"
This topic was continued by Constitution and Norms under Attack: Military, Judiciary, Administration, Congress, International 6.
