2025 Political Thread

[andyhb]

Seriously, who in the hell thinks this is ok?

 

[Ebaad Jaffery]

National Weather Service no longer translating products for non-English speakers

~28% of the US population will now essentially no longer be understanding these products, and therefore ~28% of the US population will now be at risk of death, loss of life, or loss of property.

 

[Ebaad Jaffery]

Seriously, who in the hell thinks this is ok?

Let's deport citizens to overseas gulags! And the way this administration has been word-bending, criminal means anybody.

 

[KoD]

Seriously, who in the hell thinks this is ok?

I guess they'd be okay with the next administration deporting Trump

 

[bjdeming]

Seriously, who in the hell thinks this is ok?

No one. It just gets a lot of people, including me, so excited and angry that it's difficult to focus on the real issue: SCOTUS says that the man mistakenly sent out on that rush flight must be returned; that the US has a business arrangement with that country that can make this happen; it doesn't matter squat what the leader of El Salvador says about it.

Bring the guy back. And if the leader of El Salvador refuses, then El Salvador has broken the agreement and it's cancelled. No more shipments of unfortunates. Period.

And then, if evidence of conspiracy can be found -- though it was probably a wink-and-a-nod thing -- let's get serious about impeaching POTUS for conspiring with a foreign power to evade a SCOTUS directive.

Even Nixon wouldn't have stooped this low.

 

[bjdeming]

let's get serious about impeaching POTUS for conspiring with a foreign power to evade a SCOTUS directive.

Let's do it for the kids (says this Olde Crone) -- there's a whole segment of the upcoming generation who thinks this sort of thing is cool. No one apparently taught them Civics 101, and they need to learn about consequences of abuse of power.



Heh -- "ICE Barbie."

 

[andyhb]

This man is here LEGALLY. Wake the hell up people.

 

[UpperLevelLOL]

...are we seriously drudging up a long-discredited, McCarthy-era diatribe as some sort of authoritarian source on what Communism is? Did this pop up on one of your Facebook feeds?

 

[andyhb]

26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as “normal, natural, healthy.”

This has already been done. Anyone who does not agree is considered to be old-fashioned, far-right, homophobic and even a "threat to our democracy".

27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with “social” religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a “religious crutch.”

They're doing that too. It's also known as wokeness, the social gospel or progressive Christianity.

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of “separation of church and state.”

This was accomplished a long time ago.

I mean this with all due (none) respect, buzz the hell off. You are an awful person who does not deserve to post here.

 

[UpperLevelLOL]

And yeah, to echo the above, if your reading of the Gospel, especially the Sermon on the Mount, somehow leaves you with the impression that Christ didn't care about social justice, you really need to prayerfully re-evaluate that. Especially this Holy Week, as we celebrate the political execution, burial, and resurrection of a Palestinian Jewish former refugee who called on us to care for the poor, provide medical support for the sick, love our neighbor, and call out abuses of power wherever it manifest.

 

[bjdeming]

Meanwhile, on the consequences front -- backbone. (Applause emoji)

GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — A federal judge said Tuesday that she will order sworn testimony by Trump administration officials to determine if they complied with her orders to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported to a notorious El Salvador prison.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland issued her order after Trump officials continually refused to retrieve Abrego Garcia. She said they defied a “clear” Supreme Court order...

-- Source

El Salvador must be letting her use the prison library.



Per the BBC, which has a very good article on it,

...
A contempt of court ruling would escalate the Trump administration's constitutional showdown with the judiciary, finding that it had disregarded an independent and equal branch of US government.

But the Trump administration says it is Judge Xinis who is overstepping her powers as a federal judge by meddling in the executive branch's ability to conduct foreign policy.

While the US Supreme Court last Friday partially upheld Judge Xinis's ruling in favour of Mr Ábrego García, the justices also questioned whether she exceeded her authority when she directed the government to " effectuate" his return...

 

[bjdeming]

You've probably already seen this, because it's very popular, but for the record the Associated "Gulf of Mexico, but Mount McKinley okay" Press took a look at whether sending citizens to foreign gulags is legal.

...

Wait, so can they send citizens to El Salvador?​

Nothing like this has ever been contemplated in U.S. history, but it seems unlikely...

 

[andyhb]

I'm just going to say, as someone who leans left on the political spectrum, this is not the time for liberals and conservatives to get stuck in identity politics like they have for the past 30+ years. What's happening here is wrong, constitutionally wrong, and it is up to the people to endlessly bark at their representatives both Democrat and Republican in congress and protest to get it to stop.

There is no turning back if a) the Insurrection Act is passed on 4/20 and b) people are allowed to be disappeared illegally for basically any reason the administration makes up. No, it will not just be "illegals" targeted here if this is allowed to stand.

 

[andyhb]

This is ICE behaving like the goddamn Gestapo FFS.

ICE agents smash car window to detain Guatemalan man living in Mass.

New video shows the agents shattering the window of Juan Francisco Méndez's car to detain him. The video was shot by his wife and provided to NewsCenter 5 by his lawyer.

www.wcvb.com

 

[bjdeming]

On the AP/newswire front, BTW:



There might be some Sgt. Schultzism among the supporters facilitating that information dropout, too, though I can't point to specific examples yet.

I would like to ask them if they would have voted for Trump if he had said before they voted that he was going to unleash Elon Musk on their government, including their weather service and the parts that store their private data; trash their investments with some century-old tariff scheme; and be pals with Putin and probably improve that relationship by doing things such as telling everyone he'd like to send US citizens to El Salvador and other hellholes, too.

If he had been upfront before the primaries and election, would they have voted for Trump?

I would like to ask them if they feel betrayed now, and if so, how comfortable they feel in discussing it among themselves. Maybe they would be more comfortable discussing it in the public square, if their opposite numbers on the political spectrum can be made to hold off on attacking them.

But maybe they would be too afraid of retaliation from "their man" and his power-hungry supporters to do anything other than continue to march in lockstep with everyone else...seeing nothing, hearing nothing...

 

[bjdeming]

Insurrection Act?

 

[andyhb]

Insurrection Act?

Martial Law vs the Insurrection Act: What’s the difference — and could Donald Trump invoke them?

As the 90-day deadline nears for a key Executive Order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump on January 20, speculation swirls over whether he will invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807.

economictimes.indiatimes.com

The last time it was invoked was for the Los Angeles riots in 1992 in response to the police beating of Rodney King. This time, there is no such violence. The only reason it is being invoked is to make it easier to use the military against immigrants and (eventually) the greater civilian population. It is not a martial law declaration, but it undoubtedly paves the way towards greater human rights violations.

 

[TH2002]

Call me a conspiracy theorist or whatever, but this realization just hit me like a brick: the federal government has had a major power trip going ever since 9/11, and it continues regardless of which major party is in power:

the unconstitutional Patriot Act and spying on US citizens - "it's to keep you safe"
the unconstitutional REAL ID act - "it's to keep you safe"
unconstitutional gun laws in many states like California and Illinois - "it's to keep you safe"
unconstitutional lockdowns and vaccine mandates during Covid - "it's to keep you safe"
unconstitutional arrests and deportations of legal residents for having the "wrong" opinions about Israel and proposed unconstitutional deportations of US citizens - "it's to keep you safe"

Hmmm...

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." -Benjamin Franklin

 

[bjdeming]

Here's an ACLU post on the 1807 act during the 2020 riots.

The thing with illegal immigration is that floodgates did open during the last administration and it gave employers who were not too particular and had clout basically a slave labor force. They could pay low wages, not pay at all, and abuse their workers in other ways, and no one could complain without facing arrest and deportation.

And the last administration/its supporters just looked the other way. It was a money-based power trip.

This current swing to possible full militarization of the border goes way too far in the other direction. It's a macho-based power trip.

Neither extreme is good for the US.

 

[bjdeming]

As for the newswire ban, I'm just going to assume that any White House news not bylined by one of the wire services -- AP, UPI, Reuters -- is nothing but propaganda.

King Donald did us consumers a favor -- it's much harder to spot the propaganda when the sources are all mixed in together (sarcasm, that; politicians who ban media in this country want to hide something from the people they're supposed to be representing).