Arguably, we’ve been in a constitutional crisis since January 20, but the Trump DOJ’s decision to openly defy a unanimous Supreme Court decision seems like a bright line. WaPo gift link:
The Trump administration said Sunday that it is not required to engage El Salvador’s government in efforts to facilitate the return of a Maryland man mistakenly deported to a notorious prison there, striking a defiant tone in responding to a federal judge’s order that plans be made to bring him back to the United States…
[Kilmar] Abrego Garcia’s lawyers had no immediate comment on the court filings. But the lawyers have repeatedly said he is danger of being tortured and killed in El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, a mega-prison where dozens of inmates share a cell. On Saturday, they argued that the government should face contempt of court for failing to lay out efforts to repatriate Abrego García after the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the administration must facilitate his return.The Trump administration said Sunday that it had “no updates” on those efforts, according to a letter to the court Sunday evening. While noting that the president of El Salvador “is currently in the United States and will be meeting with President Donald Trump,” Justice Department officials wrote, “the federal courts have no authority to direct the Executive Branch to conduct foreign relations in a particular way, or engage with a foreign sovereign in a given manner.”
Any further order from the court would “interfere with ongoing diplomatic discussions” and result in the release of “classified documents,” the officials argued, describing Abrego Garcia’s lawyers’ request for more detailed information as “micromanaging” U.S. foreign relations.
Simple human decency would compel a legitimate government to address the “administrative error” it admits it made when it kidnapped a U.S. resident and transported him to a foreign gulag. But there’s no decency in Trump’s DOJ, only a desire to enable Donald Trump to wield monarchical power against anyone he considers an enemy or obstacle.
Coming up with names for Trump’s enemies list has apparently been crowdsourced to internet kooks. ProPublica has that story here in an account of how Tufts PhD student Rümeysa Öztürk was abducted on a street in Somerville, Massachusetts.
Trump spent the overnight hours raging on social media about CBS News because of unflattering “60 Minutes” stories about his fuckups in Ukraine and Greenland, urging his FCC appointee to take away the network’s license. As far as I know, he didn’t say shit about the firebombing of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s home on the first night of Passover.
Open thread.
On The Road – Albatrossity – In the Chiricahuas – 2
The Audacity of Krope
We’ve been in a Constitutional crisis since Newt Gingrich first decided to orchestrate a government shutdown to force policy concessions. A sort of cold civil war.
ETA: But, yes, openly defying the courts is certainly an escalation.
WTFGhost
I think a couple right wingers were already calling this poor guy “collateral damage” which makes sense from a RW perspective. People don’t matter, unless they’re Republicans in good standing who haven’t insulted you recently, unless they’re forgiven by Christ Trump, in which case….
chemiclord
@WTFGhost: I think you’d be astonished how little people matter period in the reactionary ethos, even themselves and their kin.
Belafon
I can tell you, based on conversations with even “reasonable” conservatives that basic human decency and rule of law don’t apply. Yes, we messed up, but the deed is done and the guy is under the control of the government of El Salvador and there’s nothing we can do about it.
Another Scott
nycsouthpaw on bsky has (deservedly) had his hair on fire for weeks.
KenWhite (Popehat) on bsky has been posting a lot about the civil liberties aspects (e.g. CBP claiming to have a mandate to keep “dangerous ideas” out of the country).
Both are worth keeping an eye on.
This stuff is infuriating, but not surprising. I think we all knew that 47 was going to try to break everything possible. I’ve been a little surprised that it’s going slower than I feared. The courts are slow, politics are slow, government is slow. There’s a lot of friction in all of them, and that is slowing things down a little.
People in authority and power need to continue standing up and speaking out. It’s going to continue to be a slog…
Thanks BC.
Best wishes,
Scott.
The Audacity of Krope
@Belafon: Order, in the abstract and according to their preferences, matters more than any individual life; save for theirs and maybe anyone connected to theirs.
WTFGhost
@The Audacity of Krope: Slightly earlier, pre 1994 elections, when the Republicans started filibustering everything, to prove “government is broken, so you have to vote Republican.”
At that point, Republicans were all-in in using the levers of power to preferentially affect Republicans – an unforgiveable sin in a democracy, since the people wield the power, and only grant it to you to serve them, not to serve your own selfish (or party-selfish) desires.
Now, however, after 30 full years, people who were just coming of age are nearing their 50s, believing that it’s right to treat one’s own political party preferentially, if you’re a Republican, and treat all people equally, if you’re a Democrat. And those who were just born are now 30, and have been learning for 12 years that it’s okay to try to boost your own political party, by disenfranchising, and potentially terrorizing, the opposing side.
Scout211
I haven’t watched “60 Minutes” in years. I may have to watch that segment.
Scout211
I wonder if Trump’s meeting with President Bukele today will be anything more than a photo op. I guess we will find out later.
But this seems positive:
Gin & Tonic
Trump also parroted russian propaganda in response to their Palm Sunday bombing of the city of Sumy, which killed ~34 people, reportedly saying that the bombing was “a mistake.” Mistake my hairy white ass.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊 😊 😊
dc
@Belafon: Makes no sense not even as an argument as El Salvador will do what the US insists it does. Apart from the whole thing being unconstitutional and just plain wrong, not just for this one person in particular but for every single one sent down there. No due process and even with due process, unless they were from El Salvador, there’s no justification for sending them there and even less to a prison there.
The Audacity of Krope
But…but…something, something Bork…
Fuck your feelings, fuck your security, fuck your sense of belonging; but mine are paramount.
Soprano2
I don’t get why the press doesn’t understand what he’s doing here. He’s sending a message to everyone – citizens and non-citizens alike – that if they cross him, he can send them to a foreign gulag and they’ll never be able to get out. It’s clear to me that this is what he’s doing, because he could get that guy back any time he wanted to, no question. It’s horrifying and terrifying, and all of the press should be sounding the alarm as if it’s a five alarm fire, because it is.
WTFGhost
@Belafon: I, for one, find the notion that the President has deliberately put US persons under control of a foreign government to be such an obvious high crime, that I can’t imagine anyone being “reasonable” about it. I mean, “okay, so, either, Trump has a contract for imprisonment, and can ask a prisoner to be released for cause; if so, there’s no negotiation, just the activation of a contract clause that must be followed. Only if El Salvador refused, does negotiation/policy come up. So: Trump is openly, blatantly, violating a valid court order.”
OR
“Trump has put US people under the control of a foreign prince, without any recourse for the government, short of foreign policy negotiation (i.e.: we might have to fight a war, to get him released). He must be immediately impeached and removed from office for this high crime.”
There’s no middle ground here, in my opinion. That said, I’m one of those people who are so crazy, we think that a policy is “criminal” if its obvious result will be criminal activity; or the injury or death of US persons.”
(We need to include “injury” to criminalize Flint’s mass poisoning – wouldn’t that be “chemical warfare” if done during times of war?)
@chemiclord: Heh. I already saw one woman shame her daughter for dying of covid, “she didn’t handle stress well, and that’s why she died.” If stupidity could be used to generate electricity, Trump followers would finally be useful for something.
E.
Your gift link didn’t work for me but I hate that paper so much I am almost relieved.
I am so upset about this and feel helpless. I live in a very red state. I am thinking about buying a drum and standing on the sidewalk outside my federal building beating on it, with a sign saying “Free Abrego Garcia,” but I also feel I will just be a kook on the sidewalk. No one else here seems to be protesting daily, although there was good turnout on April 5.
sab
@Soprano2: We at BJ have been freaking out for weeks, and yet even Lawrence ODonnell just noticed a couple of days ago how dangerous all of this is.
WTFGhost
@Soprano2: for want of a more vile word, his attorneys are standing on a principle. The principle is, once a person is no longer under control of the US, it requires foreign policy action to get them back. Therefore, the courts have no right to tell Trump to do anything, except, prevent any US law, or US-imposed barrier, from his getting home.
So: “it’s not our job to negotiate with El Salvador to get him released from prison; it’s just our job to make sure he can come home, if he can afford a plane ticket, and can lawfully remove himself from a brutal prison.”
I did say “for want of a more vile word” than “principle,” didn’t I? I hope so.
Betty Cracker
@Soprano2: That’s exactly what Trump and the DOJ/DHS, now functioning as Trump’s personal Stasi, are doing, and they’re not even being subtle about it. That’s why Trump mentioned sending American citizens who vandalized Tesla dealerships to El Salvador.
It’s such a joke that Trump’s DOJ flunkies are pretending that complying with court orders interferes with foreign policy dealing with El Salvador as a “sovereign” nation. They don’t give a shit about Canada and Greenland’s sovereignty. But supposedly this tinpot dictator they’ve paid off to house undesirables in a brutal gulag must be respected? It’s such bullshit.
Belafon
@dc:
@WTFGhost:
Garcia is from El Salvador, but the fact that he was in the US – and, in fact, had full legal status to boot – meant that our government is required to follow its laws on due process.
WTFGhost
@rikyrah: Good morning to you, too.
(I’m not in a particularly cheerful mood, but given that I’m in a very ranty mood this morning, I figured I should show I’m not ready to rip out any throats. Not with my teeth, anyhow.
Um. Or using any other body part, or mechanical assistance, just to be clear. Damn, I sure hope I’m not helping clean and dress the turkey, or the cook is going to throw a fit.)
Betty Cracker
@Scout211: We only accidentally saw “60 Minutes” because it came on after the golf tournament Bill was watching. It was infuriating but worth seeing. For me, it renewed my deep shame as an American at how our corrupt and evil government is treating President Zelensky.
Melancholy Jaques
@Soprano2:
They understand what he is doing & they support what he is doing. They always have.
JML
@Betty Cracker: I’m not much of a golf watcher (mom liked it though) but the dramatic end to major tournament is pretty compelling stuff. I enjoyed catching the end of the Masters this year, even if most US golfers are right-wing shitbags more concerned with keeping as much cash as possible and living in their very comfortable exclusionary country club bubbles.
Rory McIlroy seems like a ok dude, though. remarkable accomplishment to be part of a club that only had Sarazen, Hogan, Player, Nicklaus, and Woods in it.
Nukular Biskits
Good mornin’, y’all. Teleworking half day then taking off to (hopefully) finish the grandkids’ play center.
Anyway, this seems to be a good question to put to our Congresscritters; i.e., “Do you think the Trump Administration should obey a SCOTUS decision”?
The Audacity of Krope
Yes; I, too, saw the Matrix.
WereBear
They act from both malice and stupidity. Where’s the attribution to land?
A Ghost to Most
@The Audacity of Krope:
The Constitutional crisis began in 1968, when Roy Cohn and Nixon hatched the Southern Strategy, and split the country into Red and Blue.
eclare
@JML:
He did not join LIV, that’s enough for me.
Professor Bigfoot
@The Audacity of Krope: “…fuck your citizenship, fuck your humanity, your life means nothing here…”
The Audacity of Krope
‘Tis a vile principle.
eclare
WaterGirl, what is today’s photo of? I have no idea.
WTFGhost
@Belafon: I know, and agree with that. I just feel that the idea that he’s in El Salvador, under their control, at this moment, to be a crime. Either Trump has the power to get him back, without “negotiating” and has refused – crime, contempt of court. Or, Trump doesn’t have the power to get him back – crime, transport of US persons without due process, but, not one the court can handle, since both the judiciary and the executive have limited power over the president.
So: there’s a crime that should have anyone, who cares about freedom, to have their metaphorical hair on fire, in my opinion.
If I could modify the US Constitution, I would make sure there are methods by which a sitting President can be indicted, in a manner that avoids damaging the Presidency. It should be clear that, while a person is President, all statutes of limitations are on hold, precisely as if he’d fled the jurisdiction to avoid prosecution. (States that don’t stop the clock would have to pass a “pause the statute of limitations” laws prior to indictment, or, risk that the SoL runs out during the presidential term of office.)
But that’s not really an answer. The real answer is, there must be people who actually care about the rule of law involved in government. Today, the Republican Party clearly puts loyalty to a Republican President far above loyalty to the US, much less the rule of law.
prostratedragon
Fire damage video in governor’s mansion.
WTFGhost
@eclare: ocean and rocks, looks like. (Um. Someone with a more artistic bent might explain the natural beauty far more eloquently than I, but, ocean and rocks are the primary nouns.)
ETA: I saw the word “glacier” in the description, so it’s a very special ocean/rock picture, likely with unidentified ice. I’m pretty sure glaciers have ice available. You’d think so with the fine quality of cheap icemakers out there….)
Belafon
@WTFGhost: The judiciary needs some enforcement power against the executive.
Baud
I don’t know about Trump, but reporting indicates Vance and Bondi have mouthed that right words.
Of course, Trump could get angry and make them take it back later today.
Suzanne
The attack on the PA Governor’s mansion is just monstrous. I want to note that it may also be antisemitic; Shapiro is Jewish and shared images on social media of their Seder table.
I don’t understand why El Salvador’s government is so willing to kiss up to FFOTUS.
Soprano2
@WTFGhost: That’s complete bullshit, though, because we are paying them to house these people in prison, so they are still under our control because of that.
Nukular Biskits
@E.:
Same here.
I was gonna vent about this over the weekend but this play center project has taken more time than I thought it would.
I don’t mind looking like a kook … some of my neighbors probably think that already of me.
Part of the problem is that protesting takes time and a lot of people (including me) have only so many “spare” hours in a week to devote something like planning, organizing and/or attending a protest function. And most folks who want to probably just simply don’t have the time at all.
Professor Bigfoot
@Suzanne: At this point it’s not irrational to assume it IS antisemitism.
Shit’s gettin’ real.
RaflW
Semi-related: One can hope that what is happening in the Minnesota GOP will be repeated in other states and – FSM willing – to the national GOP. Not soon enough to avert the constitutional crises under way right now (there’s several, IMO), but perhaps as part of weathering these catastrophic events, the Republican Party will, finally, tear itself apart rather than all of us. But that will take a lot more work by us all. Anyway, here’s the little ray of hope in my home state (via StarTribune morning newsletter in my inbox):
Minnesota Republican infighting reaches a fever pitch
The Minnesota GOP has moved into a new phase of its fight with the far-right factions of the party. Over the weekend, Ryan Faircloth gave us a deeply reported profile of conservative group Action 4 Liberty, which has spent years attacking and primarying Republican lawmakers.
Recently the state GOP’s executive committee took the unprecedented step of formally condemning the group, declaring that its leaders are more focused on “tearing down Republicans” than helping the party win elections. The rebuke was the culmination of years of pent-up frustration toward Action 4 Liberty, which rallied activists last year to oust former state GOP ChairDavid Hann, endorse far-right Republican Royce White for U.S. Senate and block GOP U.S. Rep. Michelle Fischbach from winning the party’s endorsement.
Faircloth notes this quote from GOP operative Preya Samsundar didn’t make it into the final story:
“The Republican Party in this state has always been like the KGB right before the Iron Curtain fell. You’ve got all these different factions that operate under the Republican Party of Minnesota umbrella, but they’ve all got knives and bazookas and AKs pointed at each other threatening mass destruction,” Samsundar said. “And as we learned with the USSR, a house divided cannot stand. So it’s only a matter of time before this collapses.”
Published story.
Soprano2
@Melancholy Jaques: Well, some of these reporters are people he wants to send to a gulag, so eventually the leopards may eat their faces.
Not that proud
The government has clearly defied a court order, but I think the only one who understands how right now is Judge Xinis. I haven’t seen any commentators get it quite right and the government obviously misunderstands what’s happening. To summarize:
Judge Xinis’ original order said the government had to “facilitate” and “effectuate,” his return. There are several prior cases where the government has been ordered to facilitate the return of a deported person. It typically means something less than actually bringing them back. This, the judge added effectuate, which in any reasonable reading, means bring him back.
The Supreme Court’s order said, yes, it’s proper to order them to facilitate his return. The Supreme Court didn’t question that the government had some obligation that was less than physically returning him. It then said it didn’t know what effectuate meant, and the district court should clarify that on return, and do so with due regard for the president’s foreign policy privileges. It also said the government needs to share information about its actions to facilitate his return.
Back in the district court, the judge directed them to tell her what they have done to facilitate his return, and to provide information about what other steps they can take. She did not say anything about effectuating his return. She wants the facilitation first, and, after getting more information from them, will clarify her order on what they need to do to bring him back.
The government has fucked up by not even doing anything to facilitate. They have filed two declarations in which they have admitted they did nothing to facilitate his return. They also filed an opposition brief in which they said facilitate means only removing domestic barriers to his return. But, even if the court accepts their definition, they haven’t done anything to remove domestic barriers to his return. And they have admitted it.
There is another hearing today, and I suspect they’re in for a beating. We’ll see.
gene108
Couldn’t the DOJ just use the Signal app? I thought it was secure for this administration’s communications.
bbleh
@Soprano2: @Melancholy Jaques: certainly SOME of them approve, especially the owners, but I think their coverage of him is driven mostly by their perceived business interests: they don’t want the MAGAts pissed at them, and they don’t think the vast majority of non-MAGAts will stop reading/watching, so they pull their punches. (It’s much the same with most national-level Dem politicians imo.)
As to the Orange Guy ranting about 60 Minutes, who cares; he’s preaching to the choir. If CBS is actually beating him up a little about Ukraine and Greenland, good on ’em cuz that’s what Middle America is gonna see.
He’s gonna start a war at some point. Yelling about “immigrants” is all he’s got left. I was thinking Panama, cuz it’s far away not to be disturbing and small enough to “win” quickly — sorta Grenada 2.0 — but now I’m thinking it may be an incursion into Mexico because “gangs” and “drugs” and “caravans” and whatnot. I’m guessing Sheinbaum — a woman, no less — has gotten under his skin in a serious way, although afaik he hasn’t let on about it publicly yet.
Jeffg166
The SMART Transportation Division (SMART-TD) stands in unwavering solidarity with Brother Kilmar Abrego Garcia. He is a first-year apprentice of SMART Local 100, who was mistakenly deported by the U.S. Government, then imprisoned in El Salvador without due process or opportunity for appeal. If this can happen to Garcia, it can happen to anyone.
eclare
@WTFGhost:
Thanks! I was having trouble getting the right perspective.
Melancholy Jaques
@Soprano2:
They don’t seem to mind when Trump does it. He kicked one of their own out of the White House press room and they did nothing about it.
Even going back to 2016. He had the in a cage, ridiculed them, and urged his supporters to attack them. Their response? Attack Hillary Clinton.
Baud
@Melancholy Jaques:
That’s just good business.
Melancholy Jaques
@bbleh:
They have ample evidence of this. Those recipes are just unbelievable and we could not live without the arts coverage.
jonas
My understanding is that the court ordered the administration to maybe make some kind of effort to check up on the guy or something, but basically left them enough wiggle room to blow it off if they wanted to. And here we are.
They don’t want him released of course because then he’ll talk to reporters about shit he saw in that prison.
Anyway
Really? My perception is the opposite. The speed at which they’ve jettisoned long-standing parts (people and programs) of the US govt – anything the courts say after the fact is too little too late. IRS, HHS, SSA, FAA, State … i can’t even keep track of the depts they’ve upended without any thought to due process or record-keeping ot oversight or …
Then the shambolic tariffs and the effects on the bond markets and people’s retirements and then deporting and detention of people with valid visas and … list goes on.
how can this be called slow? Where is the friction?
Spanky
@bbleh: Or Canada. But just as a data point, Mexico is not a member of NATO, but Canada is. Not that I think Trump would think through the ramifications, but one of his flunkies might.
jonas
Didn’t they threaten a strike or sit-in or something like that at one point? I’m sure the administration was really worried about that.
Baud
I guess we’ll see what happens after the meeting with El Salvador’s president, but at some point it might be more effective to put pressure on El Salvador directly. How. I don’t know.
UncleEbeneezer
So will the firebombing of Shapiro’s home turn out to be an expression of: 1.) MAGA or 2.) FreePalestine/BDS??
It could be neither, but at this point those seem like the most obvious front-runners. Regardless of the motivation of the culprit, I feel confident in saying that the constant drum of Anti-Zionist messaging and shrugging off/encouraging/defending the harassment of Jews, in the name of Gaza helped embolden whoever did this shit.
I don’t know why people pretend this is complicated:
Misogynist language -> Violence against Women
Racist language -> Violence against Black People
Transphobic/TERF language -> Violence against Transgender/NB People
Islamophobic language -> Violence against Muslims
Anti-Zionist language -> Violence against Jews
Problem is, too many people want to pretend the latter is somehow different because vilifying Zionists is technically different than vilifying Jews and Mehdi Hasan, Noam Chomsky and TNC assured them that “Zionist” can’t possibly be an obvious, antisemitic dogwhistle for “Jew” designed to help spread all the nasty shit from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion using post-colonial, anti-racist language as a thin dressing of plausible deniability.
Steve in the ATL
@Betty Cracker: “the golf tournament Bill was watching”?!?! It was the [expletive deleted] Masters! Kind of a big deal. And an incredible ending.
On the topic of the thread, I have a nephew starting law school in the fall. I will be curious to see how constitutional law is taught these days. Or do they even bother?
Baud
@UncleEbeneezer:
Most likely, some rando with a personal grievance. But we’ll find out soon enough.
Bupalos
@Nukular Biskits: The nice thing for those of us who are going to be extrajudicially rendered at some point is we will finally be able to find the time to protest.
Soprano2
@Baud: Well, they’re claiming that anti-Semitism is one of the most terrible crimes imaginable, that justifies deporting people, so he should be saying something about the attack on the Jewish governor of PA, right? *rolleyes* I won’t be holding my breath for that.
jonas
That would normally be Congress’s job, but Republicans are all-in on the grift/autocracy. This was absolutely the nightmare scenario — a MAGA trifecta where Trump controls all three branches and his own party refuses to excercise any oversight whatsoever on his moving fast and breaking things. The framers I think could literally not conceive of elected representatives and independent judges behaving this way. “What if one political party becomes the party of scotching the Constitution and reinstituting a dictatorial monarchy?” was, as they say, not on their bingo cards in 1787.
Baud
@Soprano2:
I believe the arsonist is white. So, no.
Spanky
@Suzanne:
Much more at the link.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: He did choose Passover for the attack, though.
UncleEbeneezer
@Professor Bigfoot: Call me crazy but when someone tries to burn a Jewish Governor and his family alive on Passover, I think it’s good practice to assume antisemitism, unless proven otherwise. Just like it is safe to assume racism when an act of violence targets Black People on Juneteenth, MLK Day or targeting LGBTQ People during Pride, etc.
Bupalos
@UncleEbeneezer: ok class, can anyone identify the sooooper-subtle shift UE used in his ostensible equivalences here?
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
True. But he also confessed to his girlfriend who convinced him to turn himself in. I don’t know that fanatics act that way. But we’ll see.
Suzanne
@Professor Bigfoot: Some recent posts from the arsonist have been screenshotted and are going around Xhitter. From what I saw at first blush, none of them express any antisemitic views….. lots of anti-Biden and general MAGA shit.
But we will know more soon, as we learn more about the crazy person.
Steve in the ATL
@Baud: we could threaten to send the CIA to overthrow their government and destabilize all of Central America. Again.
UncleEbeneezer
@Baud: Randos are usually aware of public sentiment/atmosphere. They see the rise in hate crimes and all the principled reasons people use to defend them. That’s why we should condemn hate speech regardless of which side or justification it comes from.
gene108
One thing I haven’t heard mentioned is the fact the deal Rubio struck with El Salvador requires the U.S. to pay El Salvador to house the prisoners we send.
I do wonder if the actual agreement Rubio signed with Bukele will ever get released? I bet there are clauses, like any other contract agreement, that allows prisoners to be released and returned.
Betty Cracker
@Professor Bigfoot: One mind-boggling aspect of this is that two people who’ve made truly gross antisemitic comments on public platforms — Trump and Musk — are policing speech for antisemitic content. I mean, I know it’s a cynical lie.
If Trump wanted to get rid of an immigrant who’s trying to brainwash the masses with antisemitic content, he’d bounce Musk, who endorsed the Great Replacement theory in the feeds of millions of followers. But instead, he has goons kidnap a PhD student who cosigned an anodyne student op-ed that probably 300 people read.
Baud
@Steve in the ATL:
We’d be overthrowing a right wing government for once.
Peale
I’m leaving for a trip to Europe on Saturday with my partner who is a naturalized citizen. I think this is going to be our last vacation outside the country and we probably shouldn’t take it. Unfortunately, I can’t convince him of the danger that is going to come.
I’m also wondering whether I should renew my passport once I get back. It doesn’t expire until 2028, but if they do pass the SAVE act, we’re going to be stuck with a deluge of applicants for passports in order to vote in 2028. And I’m not going to put it passed them to make “your social media posts are all anti-woke and pro-trump all the time” and “you aren’t a registered Democrat” a requirement for a new passport.
trollhattan
Bezos failed to bump off the girlfriend in space, this a.m. Back to the drawing board, Jeff.
Belafon
@UncleEbeneezer: You could make those assumptions, but Shapiro is the governor, which makes him a target, and the attacker could have just felt that this was the best day.
Remember how people assumed there was some special significance to the date 9/11 considering the numbers, and yet it was just the best day when everything came together?
Bupalos
@Steve in the ATL: We’ll, it was still [double expletive deleted] golf. And not that I’m going to actually check, but from NPR forcing golf “news” into my ears today, it sounds like incredible champion Whatsisface did his best to choke it all away over multiple holes, but the other dude couldn’t quite finish the deal on accepting all the charity he was being offered.
Baud
@UncleEbeneezer:
100%
gene108
@RaflW:
When was the last time MN Republican won statewide elections? I think it’s been several election cycles.
Losing can cause a lot of bad blood to come out publicly. Happens across so many professions.
I don’t see how we can get Republicans to lose enough nationally that they tear themselves apart. They recovered from the 2008 drubbing in one election cycle.
Elizabelle
@Betty Cracker: I wonder if Zelensky might win the Nobel Peace Prize this year. That would be excellent.
Reward him for courage.
Shakti
@Peale:
FYU:
You cannot apply to renew your passport more than a year out.
You should also note that of places will not admit you to their country if you have less than 6 months on the passport; they will consider it expired.
Source: checked the passport.state.gov site yesterday; caught that my brother’s passport was expired when we were booking a family trip a couple of years ago.
I also looked at my REAL ID driver’s license. There’s a limit to how far out you can renew that too.
Elizabelle
@trollhattan: What I thought too!
trnc
I don’t believe for a second that Bukele would refuse Trump’s request to return Garcia, which is why I think Trump is making a big show of not asking. Trump has never been the type to ask nicely first and apply pressure after because he is 100% Maximalist Asshole above all else. If he had any interest in Garcia’s return, he’d have openly threatened military action (probably in a tweet) even before making the request.
Lobo
Please call your Senators and have them shut down congress(I know a pipe dream) until he is returned:
This is game, set and match here.
jonas
@Soprano2: I know, right? Of course what MAGA means by “antisemitism” is “anti-Israel” in the Christian evangelical sense, not bigotry against actual Jews, especially if they’re liberals.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@UncleEbeneezer: of from what I’ve seen of this dude he seems like logical end result of Trolling. The guy just looks strange, He also clearly hates women, wants to kill Trump too and apparently has an relationship with a pistol. A Johnny Somali wanabe.
Baud
@trnc:
Absolutely.
jonas
Sounds like a copycat of the assault on Nancy Pelosi’s husband.
UncleEbeneezer
@Betty Cracker: Fascist assholes will always take the opportunity to weaponize real Isms/Phobias for their own purposes. Phyllis Schlafly constantly framed her anti-ERA bullshit to make it sound like she was the one who was really standing up for women. Candace Owens and people like her on on Fox News every night using real incidents of racism to justify voter suppression and other racist policies. As Magdi Jacobs tweeted a ways back, just because Trump (or ADL or Bibi or whoever) uses antisemitism to justify some terrible bullshit, doesn’t make antisemitism any less of a real problem. In fact it helps stoke even more antisemitism by making people on the Left gaslight testimony from Jewish People or assume they must have some right-wing motivations for doing so.
Betty Cracker
@Steve in the ATL: It was pretty amazing to watch.
Gin & Tonic
@gene108: I saw some jokester on Twitter referring to President Bukake and I can’t unsee that now.
Betty Cracker
@UncleEbeneezer:
I don’t know what that means.
Shakti
@UncleEbeneezer:
There’s always a contingent of apologists/wankers who’ll say otherwise. After all these news articles came out with motivations and such:
RaflW
@Soprano2: These people totally scoff at Church of Christ, UU or Reform Jews asserting our religious right to same-sex marriage. Because theologically liberal traditions are just as void as politically liberal traditions.
If a conservative Jew’s home were subject an arson attack, then it would matter.
Melancholy Jaques
@jonas:
Some even wrote stern letters.
Melancholy Jaques
@Baud:
What will work is if they turn it into a Trump as hero show, where he – and only he – made a call or a threat and got the guy home. He will feature him at the White House and make it look like a problem came from nowhere and he solved it.
Nukular Biskits
@Bupalos:
The thing is the folks with the most to lose are those who quite often don’t have the economic freedom to protest.
Betty Cracker
@Melancholy Jaques: I think that’s a distinct possibility.
Another Scott
@Anyway:
Plans were much, much bigger early on. E.g. TexasTribune (from January 17):
Yes, they’re working on that playbook. And that’s an abomination.
Reuters (from March 4):
The numbers – while an abomination and a danger to all of us – are not in the hundreds of thousands or millions yet. Some of them are lower than they were under Biden.
There’s friction in the system.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Belafon
@Another Scott: So Trump’s “We must deport people that looked at me wrong” isn’t actually the best way to decide who gets deported?
ema
Propaganda works:
“Impotent Trump snubbed by El Salvador.”
“Impotent Trump unable to bring American home from dinky El Salvador.”
“Impotent Trump powerless to save American from the clutches of El Salvador.”
“Dinky El Salvador ignores impotent Trump’s plea to return American.”
24/7 repeated by everyone, everywhere.
Geminid
@Betty Cracker: You may be like this pic of a black flamingo Israely reporter Noga Tarnopolski posted. The caption:
Link:
https://x.com/NTarnopolsky/status/1911486327658344754
eclare
@Elizabelle:
Same here!
Melancholy Jaques
@Another Scott:
While I agree that 11 million (or so) unauthorized immigrants is a problem, my solution was pretty much amnesty and let’s issue them green cards. But the great majority of Americans – mostly but not just the white ones – want to be cruel.
And they apparently think the country will be better without these people in it. I think they are wrong, but what I think has been a minority position since the 90s.
Baud
@ema:
He not American.
prostratedragon
@gene108:
Tl;dr: As usual, they are both full of shit and most likely violating explicit law (not 120 days yet, but don’t hold your breath).
Steve in the ATL
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Guess he can’t plead insanity then!
E.
@Steve in the ATL: There’s a renewed urgency in reading the pocket parts.
RaflW
@Shakti: Such bullshit (though you don’t say who the box quite is from). The GOP has spent a lot of effort giving permission for more violence in our culture. Even Trump getting shot (or hit by shrapnel, whatever) didn’t change a thing about their appeals to base emotion.
Soprano2
@Melancholy Jaques: They seem to like him because he talks to them more; it doesn’t matter what he says, I think it makes them feel more important so they like it.
lamh47
Hey BJ…sitting here at my mom’s house in NOLA visiting my fam throught Easter weekend.
I offiically submitted my resignation letter to my fed agency this morning. Yes, I was reinstated, but I never did receive any formal communication from them regarding the specifics of the return, nor granted access to my email or gov systems. Besides which I’d already returned my equipment and my fed ID after my initial termination in February. But hey, I did receive was back pay for my month out of work so I guess that can count as “formal communication”?
I was on admin leave and with no equipment and no access I couldn’t do any real work anyway, and was basically sitting home every day doing not a damn thing and I getting paid for it, but TBH I’m also tired of having to watch the news or catch up on Reddit or text my mgr’s personal cell just to find out what the hell was even happening on a daily basis. So yeah, having the new job gives me the cushion but I was truly tired of having to contact my mgr via text and feeling like I was bothering her/stressing her.
After submitting my email, she emailed me right back with a short “I wish you well” and she’ll follow up with HR. I told her thank you and I appreciated her help during this difficult and confusing time. She was as accommodating as she could be during the bullshit, so I have no ill will towards her.
I asked for an effective date right before I start the new job in May, but we’ll see if they accept that date. With this administraion I wouldn’t put it pass them to ask for an immediate effective date…oh well..
It’s above me now…
ema
@Baud:
Irrelevant, it’s propaganda.
Gretchen
@Professor Bigfoot: it’s hard to believe it’s not antisemitism when it happened on the first night of Passover after a lot of people were there for a seder
Betty Cracker
@Geminid: Thanks for sharing that — so cool! Adam alerted me to it yesterday, and I looked it up to make sure it wasn’t AI because I’d never heard of such a thing. I learned that mutation happens but only very rarely.
There was a yellow Northern Cardinal spotted in Gainesville, FL, not too terribly far from where I live. I wanted to go looking for it but wasn’t feeling great at the time. I wonder if it’s still around? (ETA: link to photo of yellow cardinal.)
Lobo
@ema:
This and calls to Senators. Any responses?
Baud
@ema:
It’s bad propaganda if it can be easily and pithily discredited. We don’t have the benefit of a left wing equivalent to right wing media.
ExPatExDem
Said it once already, but the time where people go peacefully and quietly with ICE will be coming to an end soon.
tobie
@Betty Cracker: Just about every Jew knows this too. The Trump admin is using us and we do not appreciate it…especially when there really are antisemites out there like the guy who shot up the Tree of Life synagogue.
catclub
Why not? Will the next Democratic admin take revenge on them for doing it?
Will there be a next Democratic admin?
Steve in the ATL
@E.: well played.
Steve in the ATL
@Baud: that will change once this blog breaks into the top 10,000!
RaflW
@Melancholy Jaques: I watched a documentary the other night on Rocky Mtn PBS that focused heavily on the Imperial and Coachella valleys, the All-American canal, water rights and so on.
A lot of clips of the industrial scale farm work that goes on. Except for owners, it was all brown folks. One guy talked about the hours Mexicans spend going through the border every day, but I’m sure many others are undocumented, staying over for extended periods to dispensing with the major hassle of the legal crossings.
Been said many times around here, but there’s no way US ag continues to function if massive sweeps remove those folks (or the people in the plains states who do industrial scale feedlot beef production and processing, etc).
So the Trump Admin, which has a concurrent goal of wrecking college educations (because educated people are less interested in or susceptible to fascism), is focusing on jaywalking foreign students. Theatrics but with a deeply immoral goal of course (and theatrics with real consequences for those swept up).
Geminid
@Betty Cracker: There be a hearing tomorrow in the case the PhD student grabbed in Somerville, Mass, Rumeysa Ozturk. I am somewhat optimistic Ms. Ozturk will be granted release on bail, because the Vermont federal judge– a 1997 Clinton appointee– worked for Legal Aid after graduating law school and then became a defense lawyer. Judge Sessions also managed Patrick Leahy’s 1992 Senate campaign.
I’m not saying the government won’t try, but it will be hard for them to argue that the Fulbright Scholar studying early childhood education is a flight risk; she can already go home to Turkiye on the government’s dime if she’ll accept deportation.
tobie
@prostratedragon: I’ve been seeing posts about Case Zablocki. I hope Judge Xinis will pursue this angle. Every day the story changes regarding Abrego Garcia. “He was detained and deported by mistake.” “He was an MS13 member and we wanted to deport him.” “We have an arrangement with El Salvador.” “We have no arrangement. El Salvador is a sovereign country that wants to detain these guys for its own reasons.” The contradictions in claims and the firehose of lies are maddening.
Suzanne
@catclub: Why wouldn’t they just say something like, “We’re happy to cooperate with the U.S. in any way that is requested”? Kick that can.
ema
@Baud:
And that’s why those slogans are good. The attempt to discredit requires an admission of weakness/defying court order.
Professor Bigfoot
@UncleEbeneezer: My man, if you’re crazy, I’m barking mad.
OR, and hear me out now, WE’RE the sane ones in a world gone mad.
I am really trying not to be PISSED THE FUCK OFF because, you know, health scare and all that; but damn, it is difficult.
JML
@gene108: It’s been more than few election cycles since the MN GOP won anything state-wide.
Pawlenty in 2006, I believe? And for the most part it hasn’t been all that close since the Dayton recount.
Donatellonerd
@UncleEbeneezer: major disagree. Netanyahu and his extremely horrible cabinet are vastly more responsible for anti-Semitism (including in the so-called form of anti-Zionism) than any protestors about Gaza. speaking as a boomer jew who graduated hebrew school, had a bas mitzvah, and is not sure she is not currently anti-Zionist. kind of disappointed you don’t recognize that. but i’ll probably regret posting this.
Professor Bigfoot
@Betty Cracker: Like I said, it is HARD not to be just rantingly, ravingly, spittle-flecked OUTRAGED but they keep telling me to “…take it easy, you can’t let that bastard cause you to blow up your own heart…” “yeah, but goddammit…”
Professor Bigfoot
@trollhattan: <chortle>
rikyrah
@Suzanne:
I, too, suspect the anti-Semitism behind the attack.
oldgold
Just now in the Oval Office, Trump: “He’s always looking to purchase missiles. Listen, when you start a war, you gotta know you can win a war. You don’t start a war against somebody that’s 20 times your size and then hope that people give you some missiles.” (Emphasis mine)
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Regarding the incident at Shapiro’s official residence, we can stereotypically irresponsibly speculate about the root cause but the really infuriating thing is that if we had a functional DoJ, they’d at least open an investigation for possible anti-Semitism in some manner (whether already covered by some Federal statute or if requested by the state of PA).
Now, of course, they won’t because said governor has a (D) after his name.
Sure, he may turn out to simply be your bog-standard loon but gee, funny how it’s always governors with (D) after their names that get targeted by bog-standard loons.
trollhattan
@rikyrah:
Could be. OTOH Paul Pelosi was attacked with a hammer so perhaps some…inspiration is the wrong word. Copycat?
oldgold
More from Oval Office:
COLLINS: Can President Bukele weigh in on this? Do you plan to return Garcia? BUKELE: How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? Of course I’m not.
The damn theatre of the absurd!
trollhattan
@oldgold:
“And to summarize, Ukraine started the war by existing. I am a stable genius.”
“Vlad, stop it. Melanie might see us. Ohh, you’re just the worst.“
Citizen Alan
@Spanky: I’m looking forward to republicans breathlessly, claiming that the guy was a liberal and also josh shapiro’s secret gay lover or some such bullshit.
JML
@Citizen Alan: can’t say I’m looking FORWARD to that stupidity from the GOP, but I do expect it. I assume that at least one will claim that if Shapiro had been a better Jew it wouldn’t have happened. (likely from an evangelical christian, of course)
the ethos of “it’s your fault for anything that’s bad happens to you, and it’s your fault if anything bad happens to me” is the modern GOP in one fucking line.
oldgold
More:
Trump says he’d like to deport US citizens to El Salvador: “I’d like to go a step further. I don’t know what the laws are, we always have to obey the laws, but we also have homegrown criminals that push people into subways… I’d like to include them in the group of people to get out of the country.”
jonas
@Melancholy Jaques:
…expressing Susan Collins-levels of concern, I’m sure
Suzanne
@rikyrah: So in 2020, there was a firebombing of a Dem Party office in Phoenix. Happened to be right across the street from where I used to work, and I had been in that office many times a a volunteer, so I knew the area. I immediately suspected that it was a MAGA freak, but it turned out to be a mentally ill guy who had been a Dem volunteer, and he had been told that he couldn’t volunteer anymore because he freaked people out (shocking). So he had a grudge, but it wasn’t political.
Anyway, since that happened, I am trying not to ascribe any specific motive until we know stuff. Maybe he just hates Dems — the screenshots of his social media indicate that. But…. I immediately suspected antisemitism based on the timing.
Not that “oh, it’s merely political violence, not antisemitic violence!” would be a good outcome, either!
StringOnAStick
@WTFGhost: It’s a photo of a glacier on the Argentinian side of the Patagonian mountains. I’ve been in the exact same spot and I recognize it. I can’t remember the exact name of the lake right now and I have to run, but that’s what it is.
Soprano2
@UncleEbeneezer: I agree, until they show it wasn’t anti-Semitism we should assume that was a factor.
Citizen Alan
That’s … oddly specific.
Ksmiami06
Burn everything MAGA to the ground. Including the enabling judges
Geminid
@Betty Cracker: Thanks, my friends liked that yellow cardinal pic. The one from Atlanta was just visiting the Gainesville area, staying at his brother’s house outside town. Warren remarked on the many birds there. He had just come from Tybee Island and spotted a Lesser Blue Heron near Savannah.
Gin & Tonic
@StringOnAStick: That’s Lago Argentino, IIRC the largest lake in South America.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: Your example didn’t dissuade him?
Anyway
Governor’s residence should have security, state police presence … how did the guy scale the perimeter and get all the way to the building and set fire? Need some answers…
cain
I don’t think they give a fuck about what he reports about the prison. They’ll just say that’s how all prisons are. It isn’t supported to be pleasant.
We already know it won’t be conforming to any U.S. laws about civil rights though – we don’t need this guy coming back from there to confirm that.
trollhattan
@Gin & Tonic:
Henceforth to be called Lake of America and labeled that on every map.
cain
@Elizabelle: The orange shit stain will claim it’s all rigged.
trollhattan
Taking a cue from, well, every other despot Trump’s war on reporters goes on unchecked.
rattlemullet
It is clear that regarding the required separation of powers, congress had abdicated their constitutional responsibility, the courts have been lost and are impotent against the tyrannical, convicted criminal, sex assaulter president.
I would kindly like to remind everyone that the Vietnam War Policy of America was not changed by court filings or writing your congressional representative. It was changed only by mass civil protest in the streets and the civic institutions of America. That is the only thing that will work to alter the current course of destruction being wrought against our republic by this band of criminals.
Sadly I think that most will be too absorbed into their screens with the outrage of the day before they realized we have lost the America of the 20th century
Gloria DryGarden
@eclare: is it a glacier in th3 Karakoram? That’s my first guess.
i May have to wade through all the comments to find out..
Gloria DryGarden
@trollhattan: despot,
i don’t care about capital letters, nor most spelling, or typos, but sometimes punctuation makes a sentence readable instead of confusing
Bill Arnold
@Steve in the ATL:
Or say that we are fueling up the B52s and will bomb Casa Presidencial in 24 hours unless Abrego Garcia is returned to the USA. Or maybe, to reduce collateral damage, just threaten to shred Nayib Bukele with one or more ginzu hellfire missiles (AGM-114R-9X).
The executive branch controls foreign policy. It is the part of government that can constitutionally do such things.
Gvg
@rattlemullet: The mass protests were mixed. They persuaded some people and some politicians, made some people more confident they were right etc. They also upset other people who became convinced the protestors were all criminals or communists or anti Americans and that the leftists were automatically to be opposed.
It was VOTERS who changed things. Any message that says it’s not worth voting, both parties are the same, it won’t make a difference etc is voter suppression and must be countered IMO. We have encountered that before. The Civil Rights era is proof voting does make a difference.
Wishing won’t change our system. We have a two party system and the balance is too close to even. Any attempt to dilute the Democratic Party vote is also a vote for republicans now. Lately there have been some mad a democrats saying they won’t vote for them now. Very bad idea. May be time to primary some IF that districts voters want a better fighter! Check the district first. Not for D/R trends but what kind of D they want and how strongly. Also quality of alternatives.
There has also been mention of possibility Trump will try to stop future elections. This can also be a voter suppression propaganda or a kind of talking ourselves into obeying in advance. I have no doubt he dreams of it, but I don’t think he can very easily because of habits. We have been doing it a long time. We have entire industries built around it that profit off it, advertising. There are so many minor offices that have elections on the same schedule, many of which don’t pay much and are kind of civic duties that people do but expect to be done with after a few years and someone else take over. They aren’t power hungry. They need those elections. They also are not going to want to do those jobs if it’s associated with a bad government. Either most elections keep going making President really conspicuous or none do making it worse or? What if Congress is completely different? They impeach and remove Trump and Vance right away. So it has to be congressional offices too? Elections are done by states though, even Governor and Congressmen. How exactly can he stop elections? Send in the military or National Guard? Sure he can find officers but can he prevent mass desertion of soldiers and sabotage? Because being ordered to stop elections and take over out own country is going to get into areas where the military is not going to universally obey even if they try to pick who they send.
To get to this point we would have to be weakened to the point Russia and China not to mention Ben Laden would be estatic.
Gloria DryGarden
good point. I haven’t seen this said this so clearly
YY_Sima Qian
@lamh47: Good for you!
YY_Sima Qian
@Gvg: This is an unprecedented moment for the U.S. We shouldn’t operate w/ the despair that there will be no future elections, but nor should we operate on the assumption that future elections will be free & fair. We have to prepare the for scenario that future elections will not be free & fair in any state where the Repubs can manage, & where even in Dem states it will be marred by political violence. We have to prepare for the scenario where normal electoral politics will not prevent the entrenchment of authoritarianism, mass civil disobedience will be necessary. The parallel is not the anti-Vietnam War movement, but the civil rights movement & the labor movements of the Progressive Era.
Fortunately, a lot of the preparatory work for electoral success & mass civil action overlap – coalition building, organization, mass mobilization. Such preparation comes in handy, too, if it turns out that we are in the pre-Civil War moment.