Fascism 101: Whatever the Big Bad likes is “legal”. Whatever the Big Bad doesn’t like is “illegal”. Those are the only operating definitions of those two words.
We got there. Trump IS the government. Not the other parts or “the people.” Supporting Ukraine now a treason:
“And Elon: When you finally get the nerve to climb into a rocket ship yourself, give me a call.”
That should leave a mark…
Border guards (CPB) have broad discretion but ICE has no authority to revoke green cards. This came from the State Department which in turn gets it marching orders from Trump, who previously threatened exactly this kind of action. The cited article suggests that the government retaliating in this way against someone they just don’t like is probably illegal:
The Department of Homeland Security can initiate deportation proceedings against green card holders for a broad range of alleged criminal activity, including supporting a terror group. But the detention of a legal permanent resident who has not been charged with a crime marked an extraordinary move with an uncertain legal foundation, according to immigration experts.
“This has the appearance of a retaliatory action against someone who expressed an opinion the Trump administration didn’t like,” said Camille Mackler, founder of Immigrant ARC, a coalition of legal service providers in New York.
This one seems to be even more clear-cut. ICE has no jurisdiction over an American citizen. This whole thing is reminiscent of Gestapo raids in Nazi Germany.
Also of note, Columbia University is being strangely silent on questions like whether the ICE agents had the warrant they required to arrest Khalil on Columbia property, or making any effort to defend him or other protestors. The reason, presumably, is that Trump also threatened to cut federal funding to universities that weren’t fully cooperative with him.
From the stories I read, I don’t think ICE did anything to the American citizen wife other than illegally disappear her husband. Which, I think, ranks pretty high on my fascism scale: if ICE is just all of a sudden detaining American citizens without a formal arrest and access to due process (something I warned about when we did the same to the 9-11 attackers at Guantanamo), that’s terrifying.
Note also my added edit to say the Columbia University appears to have been intimidated into silence for fear of losing federal funding.
I’d like to formally coin the term “Swift Yachting” for what Musk did here.
Thank you.
I see that the Orange Tyrant cut a good chunk of it anyway just a couple of days ago, presumably out of spite for some perceived offense or just a general disdain for universities …
Spite & leverage, with a bonus of weakening the potential opposition. (Not that univ admins are great and standing up for what’s right.)
Robert Heinlein:
I hear that there are things no whore will do for money but I have yet to find anything that a university chancellor faced with a deficit will boggle at.
The NYT reports a federal judge has intervened: (gift link)
On Monday, a federal judge in Manhattan ordered the government not to remove Mr. Khalil from the United States while the judge reviewed a petition challenging the legality of his detention. Mr. Khalil’s lawyers also filed a motion on Monday asking the judge to compel the federal government to transfer him back to New York.
Remember the revolt about the high price of eggs? One of the things that helped to get Trump elected, because he was gonna deal with that right on Day One? How’s that working out?
It’s working out like this. Egg prices are higher than ever, and Trump has imposed massive tariffs that are guaranteed to spur inflation and drive up the price of everything! As for the price of those eggs, Trump’s advice to the faithful is to just shut up about it.
Cuts (and damage) everywhere:
Trump made me agree with Ann fucking Coulter. Excuse me while I throw up a bit.
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5187164-ann-coulter-arrest-columbia-protester-free-speech/
My Alma Mater is currently implementing a temporary hiring freeze.
Trump posted a link to an article with a Nazi symbol:
The article does mention that the symbol has been reclaimed by the gay community for 50 years, but they say that the direction of the triangle is all-important. I don’t know whether that’s true; I’ve seen the triangle used in the community, but I’ve never paid attention to the direction it faced, as I didn’t know that part of the symbol’s history.
Trump’s reference to the symbol raises the perennial question: was it ignorance, was it malice, or was it both? I don’t think it much matters; if it was ignorance, I maintain that if he had known the history of the symbol, he would have used it anyway. The point, in any case, is that Trump is waging war against the LGBTQ community everywhere and in every way he can. Why? For the same reason the Nazis did – it’s a cult that is intrinsically hateful against anybody who isn’t them – other races, other creeds, other countries, other anything.
Yeah. Trump would be happy to see me in a death camp. I’m not as interested in how he got there as I am in how to stop him.
USDA cuts $1 Billion in school lunch and food bank funding
USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins explains her rationale in the below interview (sorry, I can’t find the original, only this response video, but she starts speaking at about 0:42)
Basically, the crazy left spent so much money on trans issues. Now…she concedes this funding has nothing to do with trans…but that’s the rationale anyway.