The Second Term of Donald J. Trump as President of the United States of America
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Shiftless2
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Shiftless2
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In case you wondered why Trump blinked on tariffs:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/407...lL4Wp_daeqb2uvT6iXpfqjpxaS8ag&__tn__=<<,P-y-R
Something some of you may not know. Way back when, before I ever thought about becoming a writer, I was a multi-national banker, working on the tippy-top floor of Royal Bank’s main office in Vancouver. It was a job that required a firm understanding of taxes and tariffs and interest rates and bond yields and currency fluctuations. Also I was supposed to know how to golf.
A refresher. Tariffs are taxes paid by the citizens of a country importing the tariffed goods. So it is Americans who will pay the 125% or whatever crazy number it is today that Trump has imposed on goods coming in from China. That much we know.
And I’m sure everyone saw how the global markets whipsawed yesterday, when Trump started then stalled his global trade war.
So a question. Why after claiming countries around the world were lining up to ‘kiss his ass’ (he is such a crass man) did he blink and postpone his beautiful tariffs? Why did he forgo the billions and billions of dollars that would flow from US citizens into the US government’s/his hands?
Trump is a hammer and believes the rest of world is a nail. He has deluded himself into thinking that other countries are powerless in the face of his nonsensical tariffs, which he claims to love but does not even understand.
America is a deeply indebted country, running huge deficits that are funded by the sale of Treasury securities (T-bills, bonds etc.). As of April 2024, foreign countries held $7.9 trillion in US securities. Countries like China, Japan, Canada, the European nations. Countries who have all recently been threatened with huge tariffs, and in Canada’s case economic warfare and annexation.
With $7.9 trillion of debt owing, anyone with half a brain would realize it’s not a great time to be pissing off the countries who hold the power to bankrupt you. When Mark Carney became prime minister, Canada held $350 billion of US Treasuries. It's believed that he brought this to Trump's attention during their one and only phone call, after which Trump was suddenly respectful, referring to Carney as Prime Minister and our beloved country as Canada. Imagine! As well, Carney has recently partnered with Japan, the second largest holder of US debt, with the stated intent of stabilizing world markets.
So back to the question of why Trump blinked. Yesterday, in tandem with the stock markets crashing, the market for US securities softened. Worried about the stability of the US economy and the country in general, fighting back against bludgeoning tariffs, other countries started dumping their US debt. To entice buyers, the US had to increase interest rates on those bonds. When you’re as deeply indebted as the United States is, the last thing you want is to be paying more interest on the trillions and trillions you owe.
And that’s why Trump postponed the tariffs. Mark Carney, along with other world leaders, pulled the US Treasury lever, caused interest rates on US debt to rise, and thus exerted their own financial power.
We do not live in a world of hammer and nail. We live in a world of connections, cause and effect, a ripple here, an earthquake there.
We Canadians are not powerless. We are smart and strong. Thanks Mark Carney! This Canadian is voting for you.
This is my take on the situation. Thank you for reading. Please read my follow up post for further analysis and thoughts.
All reactions:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/407...lL4Wp_daeqb2uvT6iXpfqjpxaS8ag&__tn__=<<,P-y-R
Joanne Proulx
eosdStrpno193 r1iuu1Phaitt2g43p 4tt0uth1t0ga1229l51 l4g:1MA ·Something some of you may not know. Way back when, before I ever thought about becoming a writer, I was a multi-national banker, working on the tippy-top floor of Royal Bank’s main office in Vancouver. It was a job that required a firm understanding of taxes and tariffs and interest rates and bond yields and currency fluctuations. Also I was supposed to know how to golf.
A refresher. Tariffs are taxes paid by the citizens of a country importing the tariffed goods. So it is Americans who will pay the 125% or whatever crazy number it is today that Trump has imposed on goods coming in from China. That much we know.
And I’m sure everyone saw how the global markets whipsawed yesterday, when Trump started then stalled his global trade war.
So a question. Why after claiming countries around the world were lining up to ‘kiss his ass’ (he is such a crass man) did he blink and postpone his beautiful tariffs? Why did he forgo the billions and billions of dollars that would flow from US citizens into the US government’s/his hands?
Trump is a hammer and believes the rest of world is a nail. He has deluded himself into thinking that other countries are powerless in the face of his nonsensical tariffs, which he claims to love but does not even understand.
America is a deeply indebted country, running huge deficits that are funded by the sale of Treasury securities (T-bills, bonds etc.). As of April 2024, foreign countries held $7.9 trillion in US securities. Countries like China, Japan, Canada, the European nations. Countries who have all recently been threatened with huge tariffs, and in Canada’s case economic warfare and annexation.
With $7.9 trillion of debt owing, anyone with half a brain would realize it’s not a great time to be pissing off the countries who hold the power to bankrupt you. When Mark Carney became prime minister, Canada held $350 billion of US Treasuries. It's believed that he brought this to Trump's attention during their one and only phone call, after which Trump was suddenly respectful, referring to Carney as Prime Minister and our beloved country as Canada. Imagine! As well, Carney has recently partnered with Japan, the second largest holder of US debt, with the stated intent of stabilizing world markets.
So back to the question of why Trump blinked. Yesterday, in tandem with the stock markets crashing, the market for US securities softened. Worried about the stability of the US economy and the country in general, fighting back against bludgeoning tariffs, other countries started dumping their US debt. To entice buyers, the US had to increase interest rates on those bonds. When you’re as deeply indebted as the United States is, the last thing you want is to be paying more interest on the trillions and trillions you owe.
And that’s why Trump postponed the tariffs. Mark Carney, along with other world leaders, pulled the US Treasury lever, caused interest rates on US debt to rise, and thus exerted their own financial power.
We do not live in a world of hammer and nail. We live in a world of connections, cause and effect, a ripple here, an earthquake there.
We Canadians are not powerless. We are smart and strong. Thanks Mark Carney! This Canadian is voting for you.
This is my take on the situation. Thank you for reading. Please read my follow up post for further analysis and thoughts.
All reactions:
993993
Shiftless2
Well-known member
Shiftless2
Well-known member
Shiftless2
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Brian Foti
dnotpseSroha1m7166937ihul3h00c76u64ai8ftm2819ih670944c8c2ll1 ·From Josh Moon
There's rarely a day that goes by in which some maga doesn't write to me and tell me to leave - the state, the country, the planet. Typically, they are angry that I have exposed a problem so obvious and so egregious that their only argument to what I've pointed out is to stomp their feet and tell me to leave. I usually brush off this childish response and go about my day, but the other day, a thought struck me: why should I allow them to believe that I'm the one who needs to leave?
Because I'm not the one shredding the constitution and breaking laws and shaming our founders on a daily basis.
I'm not the one shattering constitutional rights by denying migrants basic due process.
I'm not the one willing to bestow royal powers onto a wannabe dictator who also happens to be the single stupidest human to ever set foot in the Oval Office.
I'm not the one willing to turn a blind eye to corruption because denouncing it would hurt my preferred politicians.
I'm not the one willing to toss aside court precedent and the separation of powers to appease a con man trying to crime.
I'm not the one willing to shit on every non-white person in America because that whole "all men are created equal" thing doesn't give me enough advantages.
I'm not the one trying to deny equal rights to my fellow Americans because of who they love or what they believe.
I'm not the one trying to erase actual history because my fragile ego can't accept that maybe my forefathers did some pretty awful things.
I'm not the one trying to give public tax dollars to private businesses and religious entities.
I'm not the one trying to ban books because I need everyone to be as stupid as possible so I can keep controlling them with fear and misinformation.
I'm not the one who's ok with a crooked president pardoning cop beaters who attempted an actual coup.
And I'm not the one who voted for a damn felon to lead the free world.
So, no, I ain't leaving. Either you start following the laws this place was founded on, or you leave, you un-American, un-patriotic, snowflake soft cultists.
Sad, & embarrassing.
Friends that have vacationed abroad have in some cases raved about it, occasionally mentioning how friendly the natives are there.
So Trump has rendered us (U.S.) the dirt-balls of the world.
The unambiguous explicit message President Trump is sending our allies & trade partners alike: $money matters most.
CERTAINLY Russia threatens further Westward expansion / conquest.
CERTAINLY during non-Trump administrations our allies & trade partners relied on U.S. stability.
Trump's reckless, flagrant, ill-conceived chainsaw style modifications both domestic & international
demonstrate a change in priority.
Shiftless2
Well-known member
And another one
When Jonathan returned from the US to Australia for a quick trip to scatter his sister’s ashes, he packed only two changes of clothes, leaving enough space in his small bag to carry the empty ashes urn to his home in the US. The trip was so brief he didn’t even pack a laptop charger.
The Australian says he was detained and deported when returning from the memorial in March, despite holding a working visa still valid for more than a year. He has been living on the US east coast for the better part of a decade – where his American partner, apartment, work studio and clients remain.
Jonathan, who spoke on the condition his real name was not disclosed, says he is now couch surfing in Australia, separated from his “whole life”.
The situation, he says, is “a bit disastrous”.
The disaster began at border control in transit in Houston, Texas, when he was pulled aside and taken to a “secondary” room, he says. Posters hanging on the walls that had once celebrated diversity, equity and inclusion, had been crudely updated with a black marker pen, with mentions of DEI scribbled out. About 100 people from around the world sat and
lay in various states of worry and exhaustion, he says.
“There were so many people in this room. A heavy percentage of them were from South America. I met a girl from Berlin. There were a bunch of people from Canada. There were two Brits.”
After about half an hour, he says, his name was called out. He was asked if he wanted to call the Australian consulate, but declined.
“I thought I was just going to be given my passport and sent on my way, or maybe asked a couple of questions, but they made some pretty outlandish accusations. They said, ‘We know you have two mobile phones. We’ve been tracking your calls. We know you’ve been selling drugs’.”
He says he told the border officer he did not drink, smoke or take drugs and owned just one phone. He was asked for his passcode.
“That didn’t sound right. I asked to talk to a lawyer and they told me I had no rights.” He says he was given a brochure explaining that he must surrender his phone and so handed it over, along with his smartwatch.
He says things “seemed really fucking weird” but he was careful to remain “overly polite”. He says when he asked the officer to repeat a comment he hadn’t heard, the man replied: “Are you deaf or just retarded?”
Back in the secondary room, several families sat to one side in a family room beside cots, he says. People vied for half a dozen recliner seats. After about five or six hours, he was called into an interview room by a different officer.
He says the interview “went round and round in circles”.
“He suggested I was working for people I shouldn’t have been working for.”
Jonathan says the official suggested he was carrying human remains and sent for Centers for Disease Control agents to assess the empty ashes urn. He says when he explained he had been living in the US for more than five years, he was asked: “Oh you live here, do you?”
Jonathan says: “Then he told me I didn’t have the right visa – apparently saying I lived there showed that I had intent to stay and not leave.”
He says his visa was still valid for more than 12 months and he had left and re-entered the US without any problems about 20 times holding the same class of visa.
He says that over a series of short interviews amounting to about half an hour, the official told him his visa had been cancelled and that he was banned from entering the US for five years, including as a transit passenger. He was told he would be placed on a flight to Australia and was handed a document informing him that he was an “immigrant not in possession of a valid unexpired immigrant visa” as required by the Immigration and Nationality Act. He says he felt he had no choice but to sign the document, which Guardian Australia has seen.
He says the official then told him: “Trump is back in town; we’re doing things the way we should have always been doing them.”
Jonathan says he was told he could ask to speak to the man’s boss, who, he was warned, usually “didn’t have much to say”. He says the boss pointed to the official and told Jonathan: “Whatever he said.”
He says he was given a space blanket, meals of “what tasted like dog food” and later swapped notes with other bewildered travellers, some of whom had not left the room for two days.
Eventually, Jonathan says, he was allowed a single phone call, made by an officer to his father. “By that stage, I had been missing for more than 30 hours.”
He says after a day and a half his name was called out and he was escorted by an armed guard to meet a flight to Australia. Just before boarding – he was the first passenger on to the plane – he was passed an envelope containing his phone and watch. His passport was handed to him shortly before landing.
“They didn’t give me any valid reasons for cancelling my visa. I’ve spoken to a bunch of lawyers and they all say I could fight it but that it would cost thousands and probably take five years anyway.”
He says he has been told he can apply for a new visa, but that he would need to get a waiver to do so.
“Even if they recommend me for a waiver, it goes through Homeland Security and they are under a directive to not let people back in who have been kicked out,” he says.
After what he describes as “an awful time” – punctuated by an injury, his sister’s death and his deportation, in quick succession – he is now living in limbo.
“Part of me wants to go back, part of me is done. I have my partner there, my studio, my apartment. I brought enough clothes with me for two days – my entire life is there,” he says.
Jonathan’s girlfriend, who also asked not to be named, said she was “devastated” by the turn of events. When the time of his arrival came and went, she “started to get a sinking feeling”, she said via email from the US.
“My thoughts went to whether or not the plane went down. We had just finished a call before he boarded the flight back to [the US] and I hadn’t gotten any updates.
“Finally after being held for over 36 hours with no phone, he delivered the news that he was being sent back.
“We live together and while I can’t get time away from work right this second, all I want is to be reunited with him as soon as possible.”
She said she was doing her best to manage her anxiety and support her partner from afar.
“I am choosing hope and working hard to overcome the many obstacles that this administration has put in our path. Our plan is to start a family after all.
“Others have been having similar experiences and my hope is that they don’t feel like they’re alone in their struggles,” she said.
Jonathan’s experience reflects a spate of similar border horror stories in recent months. In February, British tourist Rebecca Burke was stopped, interrogated and branded an illegal alien by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) division when attempting to leave the US. Germans Lucas Sielaff, Fabian Schmidt and Jessica Brösche were all detained upon entering the US. A Canadian, Jasmine Mooney, said she was detained by Ice for nearly two weeks and deported, despite having a work visa.
Guardian Australia contacted the Department of Homeland Security for comment without revealing any identifying details about Jonathan, explaining that he did not consent to having his name disclosed in order not to jeopardise any future appeals.
Guardian Australia asked “what grounds would be reasonable for someone to be denied entry to the US when they have a valid work visa” and whether it was “considered acceptable for any traveller to be called a ‘retard’ by US border officials”.
A Department of Homeland Security media representative replied that the department “cannot answer questions on something we cannot verify the veracity of”.
“Just like I cannot confirm the existence of big foot.”
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade will release data detailing consular assistance to Australians in the US for the period covering the start of Trump’s second term in late 2025.
Australia’s Smartraveller website advises visitors to the US that a valid visa “doesn’t guarantee entry to the United States”.
“Authorities have broad powers when deciding if you’re eligible to enter and may determine that you are inadmissible for any reason under US law,” it states
Debunking Conspiracies Aotearoa
psSrodtoencm1158:652l1i2cl6P af5ul6ch0pma7 l0019g5AiMtr11 u ·When Jonathan returned from the US to Australia for a quick trip to scatter his sister’s ashes, he packed only two changes of clothes, leaving enough space in his small bag to carry the empty ashes urn to his home in the US. The trip was so brief he didn’t even pack a laptop charger.
The Australian says he was detained and deported when returning from the memorial in March, despite holding a working visa still valid for more than a year. He has been living on the US east coast for the better part of a decade – where his American partner, apartment, work studio and clients remain.
Jonathan, who spoke on the condition his real name was not disclosed, says he is now couch surfing in Australia, separated from his “whole life”.
The situation, he says, is “a bit disastrous”.
The disaster began at border control in transit in Houston, Texas, when he was pulled aside and taken to a “secondary” room, he says. Posters hanging on the walls that had once celebrated diversity, equity and inclusion, had been crudely updated with a black marker pen, with mentions of DEI scribbled out. About 100 people from around the world sat and
lay in various states of worry and exhaustion, he says.
“There were so many people in this room. A heavy percentage of them were from South America. I met a girl from Berlin. There were a bunch of people from Canada. There were two Brits.”
After about half an hour, he says, his name was called out. He was asked if he wanted to call the Australian consulate, but declined.
“I thought I was just going to be given my passport and sent on my way, or maybe asked a couple of questions, but they made some pretty outlandish accusations. They said, ‘We know you have two mobile phones. We’ve been tracking your calls. We know you’ve been selling drugs’.”
He says he told the border officer he did not drink, smoke or take drugs and owned just one phone. He was asked for his passcode.
“That didn’t sound right. I asked to talk to a lawyer and they told me I had no rights.” He says he was given a brochure explaining that he must surrender his phone and so handed it over, along with his smartwatch.
He says things “seemed really fucking weird” but he was careful to remain “overly polite”. He says when he asked the officer to repeat a comment he hadn’t heard, the man replied: “Are you deaf or just retarded?”
Back in the secondary room, several families sat to one side in a family room beside cots, he says. People vied for half a dozen recliner seats. After about five or six hours, he was called into an interview room by a different officer.
He says the interview “went round and round in circles”.
“He suggested I was working for people I shouldn’t have been working for.”
Jonathan says the official suggested he was carrying human remains and sent for Centers for Disease Control agents to assess the empty ashes urn. He says when he explained he had been living in the US for more than five years, he was asked: “Oh you live here, do you?”
Jonathan says: “Then he told me I didn’t have the right visa – apparently saying I lived there showed that I had intent to stay and not leave.”
He says his visa was still valid for more than 12 months and he had left and re-entered the US without any problems about 20 times holding the same class of visa.
He says that over a series of short interviews amounting to about half an hour, the official told him his visa had been cancelled and that he was banned from entering the US for five years, including as a transit passenger. He was told he would be placed on a flight to Australia and was handed a document informing him that he was an “immigrant not in possession of a valid unexpired immigrant visa” as required by the Immigration and Nationality Act. He says he felt he had no choice but to sign the document, which Guardian Australia has seen.
He says the official then told him: “Trump is back in town; we’re doing things the way we should have always been doing them.”
Jonathan says he was told he could ask to speak to the man’s boss, who, he was warned, usually “didn’t have much to say”. He says the boss pointed to the official and told Jonathan: “Whatever he said.”
He says he was given a space blanket, meals of “what tasted like dog food” and later swapped notes with other bewildered travellers, some of whom had not left the room for two days.
Eventually, Jonathan says, he was allowed a single phone call, made by an officer to his father. “By that stage, I had been missing for more than 30 hours.”
He says after a day and a half his name was called out and he was escorted by an armed guard to meet a flight to Australia. Just before boarding – he was the first passenger on to the plane – he was passed an envelope containing his phone and watch. His passport was handed to him shortly before landing.
“They didn’t give me any valid reasons for cancelling my visa. I’ve spoken to a bunch of lawyers and they all say I could fight it but that it would cost thousands and probably take five years anyway.”
He says he has been told he can apply for a new visa, but that he would need to get a waiver to do so.
“Even if they recommend me for a waiver, it goes through Homeland Security and they are under a directive to not let people back in who have been kicked out,” he says.
After what he describes as “an awful time” – punctuated by an injury, his sister’s death and his deportation, in quick succession – he is now living in limbo.
“Part of me wants to go back, part of me is done. I have my partner there, my studio, my apartment. I brought enough clothes with me for two days – my entire life is there,” he says.
Jonathan’s girlfriend, who also asked not to be named, said she was “devastated” by the turn of events. When the time of his arrival came and went, she “started to get a sinking feeling”, she said via email from the US.
“My thoughts went to whether or not the plane went down. We had just finished a call before he boarded the flight back to [the US] and I hadn’t gotten any updates.
“Finally after being held for over 36 hours with no phone, he delivered the news that he was being sent back.
“We live together and while I can’t get time away from work right this second, all I want is to be reunited with him as soon as possible.”
She said she was doing her best to manage her anxiety and support her partner from afar.
“I am choosing hope and working hard to overcome the many obstacles that this administration has put in our path. Our plan is to start a family after all.
“Others have been having similar experiences and my hope is that they don’t feel like they’re alone in their struggles,” she said.
Jonathan’s experience reflects a spate of similar border horror stories in recent months. In February, British tourist Rebecca Burke was stopped, interrogated and branded an illegal alien by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) division when attempting to leave the US. Germans Lucas Sielaff, Fabian Schmidt and Jessica Brösche were all detained upon entering the US. A Canadian, Jasmine Mooney, said she was detained by Ice for nearly two weeks and deported, despite having a work visa.
Guardian Australia contacted the Department of Homeland Security for comment without revealing any identifying details about Jonathan, explaining that he did not consent to having his name disclosed in order not to jeopardise any future appeals.
Guardian Australia asked “what grounds would be reasonable for someone to be denied entry to the US when they have a valid work visa” and whether it was “considered acceptable for any traveller to be called a ‘retard’ by US border officials”.
A Department of Homeland Security media representative replied that the department “cannot answer questions on something we cannot verify the veracity of”.
“Just like I cannot confirm the existence of big foot.”
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade will release data detailing consular assistance to Australians in the US for the period covering the start of Trump’s second term in late 2025.
Australia’s Smartraveller website advises visitors to the US that a valid visa “doesn’t guarantee entry to the United States”.
“Authorities have broad powers when deciding if you’re eligible to enter and may determine that you are inadmissible for any reason under US law,” it states
Shiftless2
Well-known member
The Financial Times, one of the more respected right-leaning publications on the planet, published this paragraph tonight.
Shiftless2
Well-known member
Well, She's Not Lying About This ... "White House Press Sec Says Trump’s Seriously Considering Deporting US Citizens. Trump has discussed options for deporting citizens both publicly and in private, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said."
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed on Tuesday, after President Donald Trump’s quip about wanting to “deport” incarcerated U.S. citizens to El Salvador’s notoriously cruel prison system, that the White House has actually been discussing such a policy.
Trump was asked by a reporter on Monday whether he endorsed the idea of sending U.S. citizens to El Salvador, as his administration has already sent hundreds of noncitizens there, mostly immigrants from Venezuela who were living in the U.S.
The White House has tried to justify its actions by claiming that those individuals were violent gang members — but an investigation by CBS News found that three-quarters of the people deported had no criminal records at all.
Trump responded positively to the idea of sending currently incarcerated U.S. citizens to El Salvador’s prisons as well.
“I love that,” Trump said, adding that he’d be “honored to give them” to that country.
The president acknowledged that he wasn’t sure whether what he was advocating for was legal.
https://truthout.org/articles/white...seriously-considering-deporting-u-s-citizens/
Shiftless2
Well-known member
There doesn't seem to be an end to cases like this
An ICE agent grabbed Merwil Gutiérrez and one of his fellow agents said, “No, he’s not the one.” Merwil Gutiérrez is a 19-year-old asylum applicant who lives in the Bronx. He was the “wrong one.” ICE wasn’t there looking for him.
“Take him anyway,” came the reply.
Let’s get it all out of the way:
* Merwil Gutiérrez came to the US legally as an asylum seeker
* In fact, he didn’t cross the border until he had an appointment with an immigration officer
* He has no tattoos (not that it’s illegal to have tattoos)
* He has not been making political speeches (not that it’s illegal to make political speeches)
* He’s not a member of a gang and has never been a member of a gang
* He has no criminal record in the US or overseas
* There is no arrest warrant. There is no charging document. His father can’t get ANY documents from the US government.
And yet, he’s in the infamous El Salvador prison that is supposedly for criminals, terrorists, and gang members… but that appears to be more and more a convenient place for ICE and the US government to stash innocent immigrants.
Merwil, his father Wilmer, and his cousin Luis walked much of the way from Venezuela to the US border in Mexico. They sometimes were able to take a bus. It took them about a month to hike and ride from their home to the Mexican border town of Juárez.
They applied for and received Temporary Protected Status (a legal US immigration status) and then applied for asylum (asylum seeker is also a legal US immigration status). They were sent to Texas, then Denver, and eventually New York, where they managed to find work (again, legal given their status). They got work permits and social security numbers (allowing them to pay taxes but not to receive benefits).
They got their immigration papers that told them their official court date to determine their future status: February 2027.
On March 15 of this year, Merwil was snatched by ICE agents on the front steps of his apartment as he was returning from doing some errands. His cousin Luis saw it from inside, and heard one agent say that Merwil wasn’t who they were looking for, and another say, “Take him anyway.”
Wilmer hasn’t been able to get ahold of his son since a phonecall on March 16. The ICE locator says his son is in Pennsylvania, but no one will confirm this… and his name has appeared on the list of people deported to the prison in El Salvador.
I’m not personally sure we can continue to honestly call this prison in El Salvador a “prison” and not a “concentration camp.” The Holocaust Encyclopedia makes this distinction:
”What distinguishes a concentration camp from a prison (in the modern sense) is that it functions outside of a judicial system. The prisoners are not indicted or convicted of any crime by judicial process.”
This is certainly true for Merwil, and it is true of many others on the list.
So we need to face up to the fact that the United States government is funding a concentration camp. The United States government is illegally arresting legal migrants, illegally deporting them, and illegally incarcerating them in a concentration camp.
This is an example of us doing it to a teenager.
We also have the example of Maryland father Kilmer Abrego Garcia, who the US government has admitted was deported to the prison/concentration camp due to “administrative error.”
President Trump said he’d try to get him back if the US Supreme Court said he should be brought back, which they did in a 9-0 decision. But when President Bukele of El Salvador visited the White House today, he said he didn’t have the power to send him back. And President Trump said he didn’t have the power to get him back. Suddenly no one has any power to do anything. It’s just surprising to see the world’s best dealmaker so easily beaten, and two incredibly powerful men who often say they can accomplish impossible things shrugging and saying something to the effect of, “I wish I could help but my hands are tied”… even when the government admits that they sent someone to this concentration camp by mistake.
Of course this is political theater. Bukele could have brought him back on the same plane he flew into D.C. President Trump could make a simple phone call.
Why do we tell these stories?
Not to create fear.
We tell these stories so we can help each other understand what time it is in our culture right now.
We are a nation that is abducting and deporting legal migrants and placing them in US-funded extra-national concentration camps.
That’s important to face, and it’s important to acknowledge.
We tell these stories so we can prepare ourselves for when we will be asked to be a part of these injustices.
We need moral police officers and ICE agents to refuse to participate in illegal arrests instead of wearing masks.
We need the private prisons paid for by our tax dollars to refuse to house those illegally arrested instead of saying “we take whoever is sent to us.”
We need lawyers to refuse to work cases for the US government when they are clearly immoral.
We need airlines like Avelo — which has made a financial deal to operate deportation flights — to make a stand and refuse to be a part of these things. (And people that fly Avelo to let them know those are not our values.)
We need American citizens to vote, to speak up, to protect our neighbors, to reach out to vulnerable populations in our own communities and make sure that whatever comes they know we will be working to make sure they are treated with dignity and respect, that there will be due process, that we will live up to the American values we often claim but are struggling to live out in this moment.
There’s an teenager out there somewhere who came to the United States to follow the American dream. He walked here from Venezuela. He came legally. He did everything we asked him to do. He got snatched up as he walked toward his apartment in the Bronx.
An ICE agent grabbed him, and one of his co-workers said, “No, he’s not the one.”
And another ICE agent said, “Take him anyway.”
His name is Merwil Gutiérrez.
Tosha Hawkins
npdSteroos65f3h109ffggf18i08h920imau9lulh89i42m7t7626t7tf0t5 ·An ICE agent grabbed Merwil Gutiérrez and one of his fellow agents said, “No, he’s not the one.” Merwil Gutiérrez is a 19-year-old asylum applicant who lives in the Bronx. He was the “wrong one.” ICE wasn’t there looking for him.
“Take him anyway,” came the reply.
Let’s get it all out of the way:
* Merwil Gutiérrez came to the US legally as an asylum seeker
* In fact, he didn’t cross the border until he had an appointment with an immigration officer
* He has no tattoos (not that it’s illegal to have tattoos)
* He has not been making political speeches (not that it’s illegal to make political speeches)
* He’s not a member of a gang and has never been a member of a gang
* He has no criminal record in the US or overseas
* There is no arrest warrant. There is no charging document. His father can’t get ANY documents from the US government.
And yet, he’s in the infamous El Salvador prison that is supposedly for criminals, terrorists, and gang members… but that appears to be more and more a convenient place for ICE and the US government to stash innocent immigrants.
Merwil, his father Wilmer, and his cousin Luis walked much of the way from Venezuela to the US border in Mexico. They sometimes were able to take a bus. It took them about a month to hike and ride from their home to the Mexican border town of Juárez.
They applied for and received Temporary Protected Status (a legal US immigration status) and then applied for asylum (asylum seeker is also a legal US immigration status). They were sent to Texas, then Denver, and eventually New York, where they managed to find work (again, legal given their status). They got work permits and social security numbers (allowing them to pay taxes but not to receive benefits).
They got their immigration papers that told them their official court date to determine their future status: February 2027.
On March 15 of this year, Merwil was snatched by ICE agents on the front steps of his apartment as he was returning from doing some errands. His cousin Luis saw it from inside, and heard one agent say that Merwil wasn’t who they were looking for, and another say, “Take him anyway.”
Wilmer hasn’t been able to get ahold of his son since a phonecall on March 16. The ICE locator says his son is in Pennsylvania, but no one will confirm this… and his name has appeared on the list of people deported to the prison in El Salvador.
I’m not personally sure we can continue to honestly call this prison in El Salvador a “prison” and not a “concentration camp.” The Holocaust Encyclopedia makes this distinction:
”What distinguishes a concentration camp from a prison (in the modern sense) is that it functions outside of a judicial system. The prisoners are not indicted or convicted of any crime by judicial process.”
This is certainly true for Merwil, and it is true of many others on the list.
So we need to face up to the fact that the United States government is funding a concentration camp. The United States government is illegally arresting legal migrants, illegally deporting them, and illegally incarcerating them in a concentration camp.
This is an example of us doing it to a teenager.
We also have the example of Maryland father Kilmer Abrego Garcia, who the US government has admitted was deported to the prison/concentration camp due to “administrative error.”
President Trump said he’d try to get him back if the US Supreme Court said he should be brought back, which they did in a 9-0 decision. But when President Bukele of El Salvador visited the White House today, he said he didn’t have the power to send him back. And President Trump said he didn’t have the power to get him back. Suddenly no one has any power to do anything. It’s just surprising to see the world’s best dealmaker so easily beaten, and two incredibly powerful men who often say they can accomplish impossible things shrugging and saying something to the effect of, “I wish I could help but my hands are tied”… even when the government admits that they sent someone to this concentration camp by mistake.
Of course this is political theater. Bukele could have brought him back on the same plane he flew into D.C. President Trump could make a simple phone call.
Why do we tell these stories?
Not to create fear.
We tell these stories so we can help each other understand what time it is in our culture right now.
We are a nation that is abducting and deporting legal migrants and placing them in US-funded extra-national concentration camps.
That’s important to face, and it’s important to acknowledge.
We tell these stories so we can prepare ourselves for when we will be asked to be a part of these injustices.
We need moral police officers and ICE agents to refuse to participate in illegal arrests instead of wearing masks.
We need the private prisons paid for by our tax dollars to refuse to house those illegally arrested instead of saying “we take whoever is sent to us.”
We need lawyers to refuse to work cases for the US government when they are clearly immoral.
We need airlines like Avelo — which has made a financial deal to operate deportation flights — to make a stand and refuse to be a part of these things. (And people that fly Avelo to let them know those are not our values.)
We need American citizens to vote, to speak up, to protect our neighbors, to reach out to vulnerable populations in our own communities and make sure that whatever comes they know we will be working to make sure they are treated with dignity and respect, that there will be due process, that we will live up to the American values we often claim but are struggling to live out in this moment.
There’s an teenager out there somewhere who came to the United States to follow the American dream. He walked here from Venezuela. He came legally. He did everything we asked him to do. He got snatched up as he walked toward his apartment in the Bronx.
An ICE agent grabbed him, and one of his co-workers said, “No, he’s not the one.”
And another ICE agent said, “Take him anyway.”
His name is Merwil Gutiérrez.
Shiftless2
Well-known member
Occupy Democrats
dotensSopr00mi6l6t90t413513t21161a67ifhatf507068004t4997l86g ·BREAKING: Donald Trump destroys a crucial piece of the American economy as tourism to the United States dramatically plummets due to his escalating fascism — down 12% from last year.
And it gets even worse...
According to the U.S. International Trade Administration, the number of tourists visiting the United States from Western Europe dropped by 7% in March. The largest group, tourists from the United Kingdom, dropped by 14%.
Ireland was down by 27%. German tourism decreased by 28%, perhaps connected to the fact that MAGA oligarch Elon Musk has spent a great deal of time promoting the far-right German AFD party.
Spain and Norway both dropped by 25%. Switzerland decreased by 25%.
Denmark dropped a jaw-dropping 34% — a likely result of Trump's deranged efforts to seize Greenland, which is a an autonomous territory of Denmark.
Making all of this worse are the horror stories emerging of innocent tourists being terrorized and deported by ICE officers inflamed by Trump's rhetoric.
Travel writer Eoghan Corry told The Irish Times that there is "an intense uncertainty" among participants at a conference for American travel operators.
“The German market is very important to the US, but there has been immense publicity in Germany about border control," he added, explaining that social media is "full of cases" of European travelers being detained and questioned at US borders.
To the rest of the world, America is becoming an uglier and crueler place so it's no wonder that foreign tourists are choosing to spend their vacation money elsewhere.
The people hurt most by this tourism slump are obviously American business owners and vendors who rely on tourists to drive their profits. Once again, Donald Trump has inflicted economic suffering on the American people and given us nothing in return.
BTW, it's not just "tourism" - it's the Canadian who lives close to the border and regularly crosses over to shop in the US (just day trips). And the limo driver who regularly buys gas in the US or who picks up passengers on one side or the border and takes them to someplace on the other side. And ...
On whose orders? What orders?
"First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a communist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out- because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak out for me." pastor Martin Niemöller
Reductio ad absurdum: The deportations will continue until Trump is the only one left, and Trump is the king of no one.
Shiftless2
Well-known member
No orders just a "we're already here so why not"
My #493 was vague.
It's easy to perceive in binary terms. But ICE is a paramilitary organization, including gun-toting troops displaying rank and unit insignia on their paramilitary uniforms.
The troops that arrested this individual have a chain of command. And that commander has to authorize expenditures.
Commanders are responsible for, must be prepared to answer for the actions of those under their command.
I understand the appeal of simply blaming the guy working the manacles on that specific occasion. I consider it likely there's more to it than that.
Shiftless2
Well-known member
Do you honestly think that anyone in ICE is going to have to answer to anyone?
That said, it's just as likely that one troop member said that he's not the one and another one said to take him anyways. Not a real superior, just another trooper (at most a squad leader).
Shiftless2
Well-known member
And Trump defies the Supreme Court - the obvious question - what are they (or anyone else) going to do about it?
Shiftless2
Well-known member
2nd Mass. immigration attorney, also US citizen, told to leave country in DHS email
Carmen Bello is the second immigration attorney in Massachusetts to tell NBC10 Boston she has received a message from the Department of Homeland Security telling her to self-deport
www.nbcboston.com
Shiftless2
Well-known member
Taylor Hunter
etnsdropSoghf3408nlt8g03st41lh391J h1l83mow8i90lclaa3ufg54m2 ·https://www.facebook.com/#
To be clear: I believed it...and I'm really tired of this asshole proving me right.
#FuckICE #FuckTrump #fuckfascism #ResistTrump #resistance
Copied text from Glee Violette:
He is giddy - higher than we've ever seen him.
Yesterday he revealed that everything we have been observing and discussing is true.
All this time, we didn't REALLY believe it - we even told ourselves we were being ridiculous. We assured each other that even if he WANTED it to happen, he couldn't MAKE it happen.
We were wrong.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Yesterday he defied a direct order from the Supreme Court.
The branch of Government which is supposed to hold separate and equal powers to his.
And every hand-picked official in his administration stood next to him in solidarity.
His Department of Justice head, Pam Bondi, who is supposed to be his check on legal matters.
His Department of Defense head, Pete Hegseth, who is supposed to be his check on military matters.
His Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, who is supposed to be his check on international affairs.
His Vice President, JD Vance, the only person with the power to step in and remove him.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Supreme Court defines Constitutional law. Every oath taken by every official, from soldiers to senators to department heads, is TO UPHOLD THE CONSTITUTION. To defy the Supreme Court is to defy that oath.
BUT - Trump claims he never swore to uphold the Consitution. He had his lawyers claim that, technically, the inaugural presidential oath is NOT to "support" the Constitution, but instead, to "preserve, protect and defend" the Constitution in his role as president.
He claims that the president doesn't actually have to OBEY it.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
One of his first Executive Orders was to decree that his Attorney General, Pam Bondi, head of the Department of Justice, had the "SOLE" authority to "interpret the law" for all the Departments in his Administration. And then he stated that HE had the authority to overrule HER on "interpreting the law".
When the Governor of Maine said in February that she would follow state and federal law, Trump flew into an apoplectic rage. With a red face, he screamed at her, "WE are the federal law" and threatened, "you'd better do it, you'd better do it or you're not gonna get any federal funds".
Congress, the other separate but equal branch of our Government, is SUPPOSED to have the sole authority over funding.
But Trump has claimed ownership of that authority as well.
And in five days, he plans to claim COMPLETE ownership and authority over the entire Government, thanks to an 1827 Decision written by the Supreme Court itself.
“The authority,” the Court said, “to decide whether the exigencies contemplated in the Constitution of the United States and the Act of Congress… in which the President has authority to call forth the militia, ‘to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions’ have arisen is exclusively vested in the President, and his decision is conclusive upon all other persons.”
The president ALONE gets to decide what constitutes an “insurrection,” “rebellion,” or “domestic violence.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
CONTINUED
Shiftless2
Well-known member
PART 2
Just sit with that a moment.
It could be any protest march. Like the George Floyd/BLM marches that humiliated him and sent him hiding in the White House bunker his first term.
Or, like the nationwide Hands Off protest march scheduled for this coming Saturday. (He claims "FBI agents" committed the January 6th violence. He may be projecting plans for Kash Patel to embed FBI agents around the country to do the same.)
It could be any group of people he determines are a criminal gang.
Or, it could be any city or state government that gives sanctuary to immigrants - or any religious organization. ICE is now allowed to force its way into churches to arrest people.
Or it could be any news media organization that speaks out against him, "fomenting rebellion". It could be anyone on social media who speaks out against him. Like you and me.
He ALONE gets to determine what constitutes “insurrection,” “rebellion,” or “domestic violence.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
And why is that crucial right now? Because in 5 days, April 20th, Easter Sunday, a report is supposed to be delivered into his hands that will justify the authority for him to use our own military against our own citizens on American soil.
The Supreme Court decision granting the president sole authority was written in response to the Insurrection Act of 1807.
That act gives the president broad authority to use the military on American soil. As the Brennan Center explains, “The statute…is the primary exception to the Posse Comitatus Act, under which federal military forces are generally barred from participating in civilian law enforcement activities.”
Salon reports: In 2022, then-former President Donald Trump stated, “The next President should use every power at his disposal to restore order — and, if necessary, that includes sending in the National Guard or the troops” to conduct law enforcement activities on U.S. soil.
In November 2023, he complained that during his first term, he was prevented, as the AP notes, “from using the military to quell violence in primarily Democratic cities and states.” Referring to the problem of violence in New York City and Chicago, President Trump said, “The next time, I’m not waiting.”
A year later, in 2024, President Trump focused his thinking about the Insurrection Act on “the enemy from within.” As he put it, “We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical left lunatics. And I think they’re the big — and it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military, because they can’t let that happen.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
On April 20th, Trump is to receive a report from the Department of Defense, Pete Hegseth, and the Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, about "conditions at the Southern border".
The report is to be the excuse, the justification, for the Insurrection Act to be invoked.
Why Easter Sunday?
Because Trump has an old-fashioned childhood fixation on that date being the ultimate family day. It started with candy for the children and concluded with a big family dinner, and everyone went to church to show off their fancy new outfits, whether they were religious or not.
He expects that on that day, every target of his will be at home or at church and will be very easy to round up.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
After that, they can be sent to the prisons (slave labor camps) in El Salvador. Out of the country. Out of the jurisdiction of our laws and the rights of due legal process. Where he claimed yesterday they will now be in El Salvador's jurisdiction, and he will have no "right" or "ability" to bring them back.
The president of El Salvador sat in OUR Oval Office yesterday and smirked as he said that HE had no jurisdiction to return them to America either.
They will simply disappear forever.
Yesterday, Trump told him to build "a lot" more camps. Because he is planning to send American citizens there as well.
He assures us they will only be "dangerous criminals", though. You know. Like the students and tourists and working parents he is rounding up now.
Like the families celebrating Easter Sunday.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
And after that? Well, once the precedent has been set, he can use it for whatever he wants.
Who is going to stop him?
Just sit with that a moment.
It could be any protest march. Like the George Floyd/BLM marches that humiliated him and sent him hiding in the White House bunker his first term.
Or, like the nationwide Hands Off protest march scheduled for this coming Saturday. (He claims "FBI agents" committed the January 6th violence. He may be projecting plans for Kash Patel to embed FBI agents around the country to do the same.)
It could be any group of people he determines are a criminal gang.
Or, it could be any city or state government that gives sanctuary to immigrants - or any religious organization. ICE is now allowed to force its way into churches to arrest people.
Or it could be any news media organization that speaks out against him, "fomenting rebellion". It could be anyone on social media who speaks out against him. Like you and me.
He ALONE gets to determine what constitutes “insurrection,” “rebellion,” or “domestic violence.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
And why is that crucial right now? Because in 5 days, April 20th, Easter Sunday, a report is supposed to be delivered into his hands that will justify the authority for him to use our own military against our own citizens on American soil.
The Supreme Court decision granting the president sole authority was written in response to the Insurrection Act of 1807.
That act gives the president broad authority to use the military on American soil. As the Brennan Center explains, “The statute…is the primary exception to the Posse Comitatus Act, under which federal military forces are generally barred from participating in civilian law enforcement activities.”
Salon reports: In 2022, then-former President Donald Trump stated, “The next President should use every power at his disposal to restore order — and, if necessary, that includes sending in the National Guard or the troops” to conduct law enforcement activities on U.S. soil.
In November 2023, he complained that during his first term, he was prevented, as the AP notes, “from using the military to quell violence in primarily Democratic cities and states.” Referring to the problem of violence in New York City and Chicago, President Trump said, “The next time, I’m not waiting.”
A year later, in 2024, President Trump focused his thinking about the Insurrection Act on “the enemy from within.” As he put it, “We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical left lunatics. And I think they’re the big — and it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military, because they can’t let that happen.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
On April 20th, Trump is to receive a report from the Department of Defense, Pete Hegseth, and the Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, about "conditions at the Southern border".
The report is to be the excuse, the justification, for the Insurrection Act to be invoked.
Why Easter Sunday?
Because Trump has an old-fashioned childhood fixation on that date being the ultimate family day. It started with candy for the children and concluded with a big family dinner, and everyone went to church to show off their fancy new outfits, whether they were religious or not.
He expects that on that day, every target of his will be at home or at church and will be very easy to round up.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
After that, they can be sent to the prisons (slave labor camps) in El Salvador. Out of the country. Out of the jurisdiction of our laws and the rights of due legal process. Where he claimed yesterday they will now be in El Salvador's jurisdiction, and he will have no "right" or "ability" to bring them back.
The president of El Salvador sat in OUR Oval Office yesterday and smirked as he said that HE had no jurisdiction to return them to America either.
They will simply disappear forever.
Yesterday, Trump told him to build "a lot" more camps. Because he is planning to send American citizens there as well.
He assures us they will only be "dangerous criminals", though. You know. Like the students and tourists and working parents he is rounding up now.
Like the families celebrating Easter Sunday.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
And after that? Well, once the precedent has been set, he can use it for whatever he wants.
Who is going to stop him?