March 29Mar 29 19 minutes ago, HenryJames said: https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2025/03/14/us-citizen-arrested-berwyn-ice-chicago-attorneys Making up warrants on the fly to justify rounding up folks after the fact, just so they can meet a quota. So sloppy that they even arrested a US citizen. Land of the free, and the home of the brave.
March 29Mar 29 On 3/28/2025 at 3:30 PM, SubliminalHorn said: Sounds like I can count on you to get me out of El Salvador right Sorry, you’re gonna have to John McAfee your way out of that situation. Just don’t head to Spain where you might get picked up on tax charges and “commit suicide” in prison.
March 30Mar 30 Popular Post On 3/28/2025 at 12:08 PM, safe sex said: Have had multiple patients who are keeping their passports on them at all times now. My heart broke the first time one of them pulled out the little blue book before weighing himself. Absolutely unreal. We are a "Papers, Please" country, and we all know that having your papers doesn't even necessarily matter either. my wife and I actually went out on a fun date last night. First time in awhile that we carved time out for ourselves. our uber driver last night on the way home was Venezuelan. his worry? His fucking wife and daughters being fucking deported. this is our country. fucking Kristi noem adverts telling people to go home and never come back. Fuck all yall
March 31Mar 31 This thread needs this letter, penned by a group of law professors from Harvard: Edited March 31Mar 31 by Willfully Horn
March 31Mar 31 Author Popular Post One of the targetted Columbia students has published a letter on her experience getting gestapo'd Spoiler TLDR: On March 6, this student got a "survey" from a private number asking about conditions on campus. For some reason, the caller revealed they already had her exact current address. On March 7 this poor woman was literally on the phone with her Columbia University advisor when ICE knocked on her door on their first attempt to deport her. Her advisor who just told her in writing she was in good legal status and standing and could continue her employment as a TA. She NOPE'd the fuck outta there and ICE kept coming back threatening to appear until they could put her into removal proceedings without a warrant or court order, despite her good legal standing. To escalate on March 9, ICE illegally terminated her student/exchange VISA and Columbia immediately disenrolled her and started seeking her out in person as well to "confirm she was still at home and received their notice". Fearing getting blackbagged by ICE, Ranjani fled for Canada on March 11. ICE and DHS raided her former home at CU on March 13, and then tweeted a victory tweet on the 14th claiming she "self deported" for alleged crimes without evidence. ICE is working with universities now. Universities are more than happy to help blackbag their students. What starts here changes the world.
March 31Mar 31 Popular Post Canceling the refugee resettlement plan is putting Afghan students who were promised visas under threat of being deported back to Afghanistan, where they'll assuredly be in physical danger. ‘They Will Label Us as Spies’: The Afghan Students Abandoned by America Students at the American University of Afghanistan in Qatar fear having to return to their Taliban-ruled homeland after aid and visa cutoffs by the Trump administration. When she finds it hard to focus, Nilab jots down her worries on slips of paper and pins them to her wall, a strategy she picked up in a seminar on mental health at the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul. She makes a mental note to deal with the issues at a scheduled time and then gets back to studying. That kept her sane when the U.S.-backed Afghan government was overthrown in 2021, when the Taliban made it illegal for women to receive an education and when she left in July 2023 to study at the university’s campus-in-exile in Qatar. Now, in Nilab’s dorm room in Doha, the little notes are stacking up. The Trump administration’s shutdown of foreign aid and refugee admissions has left her terrified that she will be forced to return to Afghanistan. There, she would be alone and deprived of any rights as a woman. Her hard-earned American-style education would be all but worthless. She imagines the worst. “How can girls go back to Afghanistan?” said Nilab, 30, who asked that only her first name be used to protect her identity. “What will happen to us? Rape, forced marriage and death.” On Jan. 20, just as Nilab was planning her final project for her cybersecurity degree, President Trump signed an executive order suspending refugee resettlement. The U.S. government had promised refugee status for her and her classmates, but Nilab’s hopes of rejoining her family, who received asylum in the United States after the Taliban took over, were shattered. A month later, her university lost most of its funding when Mr. Trump dismantled American foreign aid programs, to reorient spending in line with the administration’s foreign policy goals. Funding was partly restored on March 16, the university’s leadership said, but only enough to operate into June. If the university closes, students will lose their housing, cafeteria meal plans and Qatari student visas. A third thunderbolt came on March 15, with word that Mr. Trump was considering putting Afghanistan on a list of countries whose citizens would be barred from entering the United States. Nilab does not know when she will ever see her family again, much less resettle with them. As she and other Afghan students find their lives thrown into chaos, they are caught between the infinite possibilities promised by a university education and a crushing sense that there are no doors left to open. “I thought this long journey was finished,” she said. “I was wrong.” With midterms approaching, Nilab has little time for her concerns. She has a presentation on arrays and algorithms due soon. So she writes down her fears and pins them to her bulletin board. cont'd Quote Piece of America The American University of Afghanistan was established in 2006 as a coed liberal arts college, with instruction in English. It was designed to educate the next generation of Afghan leaders and innovators, imbued with Western ideals of justice, freedom and democracy. Students called their campus “Little America.” The U.S. government has invested more than $100 million in the university, and until last month, funding from the United States Agency for International Development, or U.S.A.I.D., covered more than half of its operating costs. (The agency has also provided scholarships for more than 100 Afghan women — including Nilab’s sister — to study at universities in Oman and Qatar, among them the American University, and those students face a similar budget freeze.) When the American military hastily withdrew from the country in August 2021 and the Taliban returned to power, the American University was an obvious target. Militants rampaged through its buildings, scrawling graffiti that derided students as “U.S.-trained infidel spies” and “wolves in sheep’s skin.” Administrators worked to get more than 1,000 students out of the country as quickly as possible. Nearly 700 were evacuated to sister universities in Iraq, Kyrgyzstan and the United States. The government of Qatar agreed to host a temporary campus-in-exile. One hundred students arrived for the term starting in August 2022, and another 100 — Nilab’s group — landed a year later. Most of the students eventually left for the United States on so-called Priority 1 visas. When Mr. Trump took office in January, the remaining 35 were waiting for their final interviews and pre-departure medical checkups. Some already had airplane tickets. They now wander the near-empty halls of their temporary campus in a stunned daze, not knowing what will happen next. “We thought all our traumas were finally coming to an end, so we could start to breathe again,” said Waheeda Babakarkhail, 23, a programmer who dreams of working as a white hat hacker, testing computer programs for security flaws. “I had accepted that I couldn’t stay in Afghanistan,” she said, “but now even the future I thought I would have has been lost.” Aspirations have been derailed across the campus. Abbas Ahmadzai, 24, a business major, had a job in event management lined up in New York. Faisel Popalzai, 23, was hoping to get a job at Microsoft. He developed an A.I.-assisted computer program that can identify potentially fraudulent financial transactions. The app, called Hawks.Ai, won the Microsoft Hackathon last year in Doha. If pathways to the United States are cut, Mr. Popalzai said, the country will lose a valuable investment: “our minds, paid for by the American people.” Sense of Dread If the university is forced to close in June, the students face an alarming prospect. They will lose their student visas and their right to stay in Qatar within weeks. If they cannot find a Qatari employer to sponsor them, or obtain a job or scholarship offer in another country, they will have to return to Afghanistan. They are keenly aware that “the way we were educated is in contradiction to everything the Taliban represent,” said Hashmatullah Rahimi, 24, a business major. “We were taught to speak freely, to be independent. Not a single person in the Taliban government wants that.” The university’s administrators say there has been no documented persecution of its graduates since the Taliban takeover. But students fear they would be viewed as a threat. “If we go back,” Mr. Popalzai said, “they will label us as spies, sent to infect Afghans against the Taliban with our American ideology.” For female students, the risks are obvious. The Taliban have banned education for women and girls after sixth grade and barred women from most forms of employment. They cannot travel without a male relative, they are required to cover their faces outside the home, and their voices must not be heard in public. “Maybe we won’t be killed if we go back,” said Rawina Amiri, 24, a business major who dreams of becoming a professional volleyball player. “Does that mean we should accept having our rights violated?” she added. “We have the right to learn, to contribute, to work. Do people in the United States expect us to give up those rights because the Americans promised us a visa, then changed their mind?” Nilab remains in limbo in the U.S. visa process. On Tuesday, a U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that the Trump administration must admit thousands of people granted refugee status before Jan. 20, which could include several of the university’s students. But the ruling is preliminary and could be reversed. What has really thrown Nilab for a loop is the potential for Afghans to be included in a travel ban. She has not seen her parents and younger siblings since they moved to Northern Virginia. They were granted asylum because her parents had worked for the U.S. government in Afghanistan. But because she was an adult, she was not eligible to join them. Nilab tries to hold on to hope, relying on the coping skills she picked up as a freshman four years ago. She is applying for scholarships in Europe even as she studies for her exams. “The Quran says that when one door is shut, another opens,” she said. “But if you don’t knock, the doors won’t open.”
March 31Mar 31 12 minutes ago, bolverk said: She imagines the worst. “How can girls go back to Afghanistan?” said Nilab, 30, who asked that only her first name be used to protect her identity. “What will happen to us? Rape, forced marriage and death.” In fairness, that's the plan for the US in the coming years, too.....so turn that frown upside down, Nilab! You're going to be a second-class citizen and chattel in either country soon!
March 31Mar 31 Ah yes, Republicans continue to fuck over Afghanis when in power, after doing nothing but criticizing the other party for not supporting them more when that party is in power.
March 31Mar 31 Popular Post 3 minutes ago, Rex Kramer said: First, (unfavorable) comparisons to Hamas, and now comparisons to the Taliban. Y’all are on a roll. Gosh, I can't imagine how people might see parallels between two countries that have heavy fundamentalist theocratic influence in their ruling regimes. It's a mystery.
March 31Mar 31 8 minutes ago, Rex Kramer said: Because people are fucking morons. I presume you are speaking of our fundagelical leaders.
March 31Mar 31 56 minutes ago, Brisketexan said: I presume you are speaking of our fundagelical leaders. He's looking in the mirror.
March 31Mar 31 13 minutes ago, Rex Kramer said: I know they’re morons. People equating terrorist organizations that murder people are a bit different. You lose people with such comparisons. Ahh, you get lost in the fallacy of degree. These images can be of the same fire: Just because one has been allowed to burn longer doesn't mean the other isn't just as great a threat. "Only somewhat as theocratic and hasn't killed as many people yet" is not a good distinction. Fundagelical theocratic regimes see the "other" as inferior, and almost always view women as lesser (worthy of fewer rights and such). The common threads are in plain sight. And waiting till the fire is burning out of control over 100,000 acres (so you can finally say "okay....NOW it's bad") is a really, really bad strategy.
March 31Mar 31 3 minutes ago, Rex Kramer said: You’re crazy and I won’t do this with you. You should send longer messages with more words in all caps. I'm crazy for seeing the similarities between the Taliban and the American Christofascist movement in power in many spots of our government. Yep. I'm clearly alone, out on an island, to be the one person to see the similarities.
March 31Mar 31 Famously, the American government never murders anyone. Definitely isn't actively deporting people for protected speech, either. Nope. No sir.
March 31Mar 31 I dunno why some of you don't just put Rex on ignore, he's a fucking moron. But he's not MAGA! He just doesn't like when you compare them to terrorists or Nazis.
March 31Mar 31 Just now, Rex Kramer said: You’ve totally moved the goalposts. Totally. Similarities does not equate with the fact that the Taliban will straight up murder people. Any comparison, as a result, is disingenuous as fuck. Huh. I guess we should hold off on raising the red flag on oppressive, theocratic regimes, until they are fully functioning death machines. Until then, there's no comparison. Because no brutally oppressive, violent, murderous regime ever started off as merely autocratic and erasing the rule of law. Nope, no pattern of that at all.
March 31Mar 31 1 minute ago, Brisketexan said: Huh. I guess we should hold off on raising the red flag on oppressive, theocratic regimes, until they are fully functioning death machines. Until then, there's no comparison. Because no brutally oppressive, violent, murderous regime ever started off as merely autocratic and erasing the rule of law. Nope, no pattern of that at all. HISTORICAL CONTEXT!!! THAT'S CR!!!!!!
March 31Mar 31 Author Ya know Rex, seeing how desperately you want to derail the thread and conversation to NOT be about these extrajudicial and illegal actions by ICE, one could easily support the conclusion that you're pleased with what's happening.
March 31Mar 31 10 minutes ago, Js1 said: I dunno why some of you don't just put Rex on ignore, he's a fucking moron. But he's not MAGA! He just doesn't like when you compare them to terrorists or Nazis. He might legitimately be dumber than workswithseed.
March 31Mar 31 3 minutes ago, wildcat09 said: He might legitimately be dumber than workswithseed. Fuckin' ice cold, goddamn
March 31Mar 31 19 minutes ago, Rex Kramer said: Nah, I’d just hold off comparing them to Hamas or Taliban. It’s bad enough. Why in the fuck would you derail conversations with ridiculous comparisons that will catch you no flies, and turn people off? Huh. When I see a fire start, I say "fuckin' a, that's bad, we should put that out." When someone asks "why?", the only sane answer is "because I've seen moderate fires like this turn into all-consuming infernos, and the time to put out a fire is BEFORE it gets that bad." So, yeah....I compare a 1 acre grass fire to the Palisades fire, because.....the Palisades fire was once a 1 acre grass fire too. We know exactly how this specific type of fire burns. We have literal books chronicling it. When you pick one up, and you realize "holy shit, our current spreading fire looks a shitload like these past historical fires," you get a renewed sense of urgency about how dangerous these fires are. Yet, we will all burn, because we are a nation full of Rex Kramers who will not agree that there is a problem until the fire covers 10,000 acres with 0% containment....by which point it is far, far too late, and we're going to fucking lose it ALL. It is the same historical head-in-the-sand idiocy that gets us the same results, over and over. But this time, I'm sure, the autocratic theocracy will be different.
March 31Mar 31 Author 19 minutes ago, Rex Kramer said: Blah blah fucking blah. I recognize there is a problem. Your histrionics and hyperbole comparing Mike Johnson or whatever GOP official you want to the Taliban inserted in a cute little meme graphic do you no favors. You don’t need to convince me. You need to convince people (admittedly, like me) that we are heading down the wrong path. You do not accomplish this by comparing the right to the Taliban or Hamas. The people we need to convince are not affected by ICE actions. So, they’ll laugh at laughable comparisons. Anyone with a brain will. Be better. This isn't "the right" or "my team" or "your team". This is AMERICA. AMERICA is shipping people off to labor camps in El Salvador without due process, and oopsie poopsie they scooped up a few brown citizen too. Terrorizing your political enemies and threatening them with cruel and unusual punishments like labor camps or being sent into forced marriages is not what AMERICA should be doing. The fact that you're continually framing is as "my team" and "your team" is the whole fucking reason we're in this mess. It's not about teams. It's about what is fucking right and wrong. This is not right. Stop arguing in advance of and the benefit of your intellectual peers that this is all just overblown nonsense. It's not. You should read "They Thought They Were Free" sometime to have a better grasp of the context you're dismissing out of hand to see where that thinking can lead. Quote "What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if the people could not understand it, it could not be released because of national security. And their sense of identification with their leader, their trust in him, made it easier to widen this gap and reassured those who would otherwise have worried about it. "This separation of government from people, this widening of the gap, took place so gradually and so insensibly, each step disguised (perhaps not even intentionally) as a temporary emergency measure or associated with true patriotic allegiance or with real social purposes. And all the crises and reforms (real reforms, too) so occupied the people that they did not see the slow motion underneath, of the whole process of government growing remoter and remoter. ... "The dictatorship, and the whole process of its coming into being, was above all diverting. It provided an excuse not to think for people who did not want to think anyway. I do not speak of your ‘little men,’ your baker and so on; I speak of my colleagues and myself, learned men, mind you. Most of us did not want to think about fundamental things and never had. There was no need to. The above is a snippet with a name genericized to better illustrate how history is rhyming. Edited March 31Mar 31 by Captainant
March 31Mar 31 It's hilarious [and quite sad] that he's actually right in a way because the average American brain cannot compute a comparison of a smiling Mike Johnson to a scary, turban-clad brown person. He's, of course, completely wrong that the comparison is laughable. It's only laughable to him because his brain is hard-wired to consider Arabs/Muslims as inferior and/or subhuman. Of course, he's obfuscating the fact that he has openly praised the Trump adminstration/ICE's actions of kidnapping/black bagging/attempting to deport legal permanent residents for protected speech because it would immediately torpedo the notion that you "don't need to convince him" that we are heading down the wrong path.
March 31Mar 31 8 minutes ago, Brian Fantana said: It's hilarious [and quite sad] that he's actually right in a way because the average American brain cannot compute a comparison of a smiling Mike Johnson to a scary, turban-clad brown person. He's, of course, completely wrong that the comparison is laughable. It's only laughable to him because his brain is hard-wired to consider Arabs/Muslims as inferior and/or subhuman. Of course, he's obfuscating the fact that he has openly praised the Trump adminstration/ICE's actions of kidnapping/black bagging/attempting to deport legal permanent residents for protected speech because it would immediately torpedo the notion that you "don't need to convince him" that we are heading down the wrong path. I've thought about running a thought experiment with some family members. I'd like them to finish the sentence, "We know we're not witnessing the rise of an authoritarian regime in the United States because if we were we would see ________." I'm a little scared of what their answers could be.
March 31Mar 31 18 minutes ago, Brian Fantana said: It's hilarious [and quite sad] that he's actually right in a way because the average American brain cannot compute a comparison of a smiling Mike Johnson to a scary, turban-clad brown person. He's, of course, completely wrong that the comparison is laughable. It's only laughable to him because his brain is hard-wired to consider Arabs/Muslims as inferior and/or subhuman. Of course, he's obfuscating the fact that he has openly praised the Trump adminstration/ICE's actions of kidnapping/black bagging/attempting to deport legal permanent residents for protected speech because it would immediately torpedo the notion that you "don't need to convince him" that we are heading down the wrong path. All of this talk of authoritarianism is ruining his vibes, man. Can't have that. His vibes are what is most important.
March 31Mar 31 30 minutes ago, Rex Kramer said: Blah blah fucking blah. I recognize there is a problem. Your histrionics and hyperbole comparing Mike Johnson or whatever GOP official you want to the Taliban inserted in a cute little meme graphic do you no favors. You don’t need to convince me. You need to convince people (admittedly, like me) that we are heading down the wrong path. You do not accomplish this by comparing the right to the Taliban or Hamas. The people we need to convince are not affected by ICE actions. So, they’ll laugh at laughable comparisons. Anyone with a brain will. Be better. Which is why we're in full "leopards eating people's faces" land now. Because the only way that people like you will EVER grasp that this regime is not just "not good government," but is actually a grave threat to us all, is when they feel immense pain of their own. Point out policy disagreements? That ship has sailed. "People like you" like the policies of this regime. Point out that other people are suffering significantly? "People like you" either give ZERO fucks, or they actively ENJOY it ("other people suffering tells you the policies are working"). Nope. The only possible path (and it's a narrow one, for which I have very little hope) is one where the fire burns enough people - either in somewhat targeted fashion (like a specific policy crushes them/their family) or in an all-consuming fire of collapse of the Republic and descent into full-on authoritarian hellscape -- that they go "holy fuck, that hurts! We should stop that!" But don't you worry your head, I'm sure that path will not bear fruit. By the time the pain gets intense enough to actually turn people against the regime, it will be way, way too late. We won't be altering course at all, no matter how many of us are up front correctly yelling "iceberg dead ahead!" The rest of y'all will be in your dinner jackets, sipping brandy and saying "I don't know what they're yelling about, we haven't hit anything yet and anyway, this ship is unsinkable." Which is stupid, because we are ALL gonna end up going down and drowning along with Leonardo DiCaprio and that's just stupid because who wants to spend eternity with him?
March 31Mar 31 Author Holy shit Rex go day drink somewhere else. Please stop claiming that this thread is full of hyperbole and dismissing the actual real kidnappings our government is doing under the guise of immigration enforcement
March 31Mar 31 7 minutes ago, Rex Kramer said: Where have I not demonstrated I don’t grasp this isn’t good government? Try and respond in fewer than 5 paragraphs that I will not read. Will "this isn't good government" move the needle for "people like you?" Of course it won't. Not even a little bit. Because the alternative -- that is, NOT voting for Republicans, straight-ticket -- is too unimaginably horrible. Why, a trans kid may play volleyball in East Possum Dick on the JV squad, so......nope, "this isn't good government" is just fine, and we'll stick with what we're getting. That's the point -- this is not just a case of "this isn't good government." It's a case of "what we're getting is the kind of thing that destroys republics." It's the difference between eating a McDonald's hamburger and saying "this isn't good food" and eating a McDonald's burger loaded with salmonella which will fucking kill you. You'll sit there and keep munching your Quarter Pounder saying "I know this isn't good food," when the point is "dude....that particular burger is loaded with salmonella and is going to kill you." And your response is the same as all the people like you - "look, we know that mickey d's isn't great for us, but you're coming off like a stick-up-the-butt puritan telling us what we should or shouldn't eat." So, you keep scarfing down the salmonella, and making sure the rest of us have to eat it too. Completely missing the point that what we're warning about isn't garden-variety "make healthy choices," it's "this shit is actual poison and it is going to kill us all."
April 1Apr 1 Author Not hyperbole: the feds are deporting now and asking questions later. Facts and evidence be damned. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/an-administrative-error-sends-a-man-to-a-salvadoran-prison/682254/ Quote Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, Abrego Garcia’s attorney, said he’s never seen a case in which the government knowingly deported someone who had already received protected legal status from an immigration judge. He is asking the court to order the Trump administration to ask for Abrego Garcia’s return and, if necessary, to withhold payment to the Salvadoran government, which says it’s charging the United States $6 million a year to jail U.S. deportees. Trump administration attorneys told the court to dismiss the request on multiple grounds, including that Trump’s “primacy in foreign affairs” outweighs the interests of Abrego Garcia and his family. “They claim that the court is powerless to order any relief,’’ Sandoval-Moshenberg told me. “If that’s true, the immigration laws are meaningless—all of them—because the government can deport whoever they want, wherever they want, whenever they want, and no court can do anything about it once it’s done.” Court filings show Abrego Garcia came to the United States at age 16 in 2011 after fleeing gang threats in his native El Salvador. In 2019 he received a form of protected legal status known as “withholding of removal” from a U.S. immigration judge who found he would likely be targeted by gangs if deported back. Abrego Garcia, who is married to a U.S. citizen and has a 5-year-old disabled child who is also a U.S. citizen, has no criminal record in the United States, according to his attorney. The Trump administration does not claim he has a criminal record, but called him a “danger to the community” and an active member of MS-13, the Salvadoran gang that Trump has declared a Foreign Terrorist Organization. This shit is actually happening. Please stop thread shitting and doing the baghdad bob, Rex. Edited April 1Apr 1 by Captainant
April 1Apr 1 Not hyperbole: the feds are deporting now and asking questions later. Facts and evidence be damned. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/an-administrative-error-sends-a-man-to-a-salvadoran-prison/682254/ Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, Abrego Garcia’s attorney, said he’s never seen a case in which the government knowingly deported someone who had already received protected legal status from an immigration judge. He is asking the court to order the Trump administration to ask for Abrego Garcia’s return and, if necessary, to withhold payment to the Salvadoran government, which says it’s charging the United States $6 million a year to jail U.S. deportees. Trump administration attorneys told the court to dismiss the request on multiple grounds, including that Trump’s “primacy in foreign affairs” outweighs the interests of Abrego Garcia and his family. “They claim that the court is powerless to order any relief,’’ Sandoval-Moshenberg told me. “If that’s true, the immigration laws are meaningless—all of them—because the government can deport whoever they want, wherever they want, whenever they want, and no court can do anything about it once it’s done.” Court filings show Abrego Garcia came to the United States at age 16 in 2011 after fleeing gang threats in his native El Salvador. In 2019 he received a form of protected legal status known as “withholding of removal” from a U.S. immigration judge who found he would likely be targeted by gangs if deported back. Abrego Garcia, who is married to a U.S. citizen and has a 5-year-old disabled child who is also a U.S. citizen, has no criminal record in the United States, according to his attorney. The Trump administration does not claim he has a criminal record, but called him a “danger to the community” and an active member of MS-13, the Salvadoran gang that Trump has declared a Foreign Terrorist Organization. This shit is actually happening. Please stop thread shitting and doing the baghdad bob, Rex.Problem: Rex and “people like him” like this. Because let’s be honest, brown folks like Mr Garcia aren’t real people anyway and aren’t entitled to any legal protection.Want to avoid trouble with the law? Then don’t do stupid things, like not being an affluent white person.
April 1Apr 1 Popular Post It bears noting that the government’s not arguing that they don’t have to bring him back because he’s not a citizen. They’re arguing that they don’t have to bring him back because a court can’t compel them to force El Salvador to give him back. They’re saying they can kidnap citizens and send them to a concentration camp they pay another country to run and there’s nothing the kidnapped citizen can do about it. The Nazis literally gave their victims more due process than this.
April 1Apr 1 It bears noting that the government’s not arguing that they don’t have to bring him back because he’s not a citizen. They’re arguing that they don’t have to bring him back because a court can’t compel them to force El Salvador to give him back. They’re saying they can kidnap citizens and send them to a concentration camp they pay another country to run and there’s nothing the kidnapped citizen can do about it. The Nazis literally gave their victims more due process than this.This.If the Trump regime can disappear someone and not be subject to court enforcement because “oh well, we don’t have our hands on him anymore,” they can do and say that as to anyone and everyone. Including you.This is how it goes, and this is how it ends. The Trump regime now has full power - with no accountability or consequences - to disappear US citizens, political opponents, or anyone it doesn’t like.It will use that power.
April 1Apr 1 A friend of mine. A teacher. WVU grad. Was told he had to come to the ISD tomorrow and "fix" his I9. Canadian.
April 1Apr 1 8 hours ago, Rex Kramer said: You’re crazy and I won’t do this with you. You should send longer messages with more words in all caps.
April 1Apr 1 the fucking problem with Brisket's fucking over-the-top gotdamn never-ending litany of bitching and moaning doomsday hyperbole...is he's basically been right about everything.
April 1Apr 1 6 hours ago, wildcat09 said: It bears noting that the government’s not arguing that they don’t have to bring him back because he’s not a citizen. They’re arguing that they don’t have to bring him back because a court can’t compel them to force El Salvador to give him back. They’re saying they can kidnap citizens and send them to a concentration camp they pay another country to run and there’s nothing the kidnapped citizen can do about it. The Nazis literally gave their victims more due process than this. But some college students protested.
April 1Apr 1 Popular Post Slippery slope used to be a favorite argument of conservatards everywhere. Now that we're actually on one, big shrug.
April 1Apr 1 7 hours ago, wildcat09 said: It bears noting that the government’s not arguing that they don’t have to bring him back because he’s not a citizen. They’re arguing that they don’t have to bring him back because a court can’t compel them to force El Salvador to give him back. They’re saying they can kidnap citizens and send them to a concentration camp they pay another country to run and there’s nothing the kidnapped citizen can do about it. The Nazis literally gave their victims more due process than this. It's so very Trump. He and his cabal have figured out that they can try and encant the magic words "national security" and "foreign affairs" and it makes everything he does untouchable. It's not that far from "Hannibal Lecter."
April 1Apr 1 On 3/27/2025 at 5:02 PM, wildcat09 said: "Existential" and "external" are different words that mean different things. You're really not beating those illiteracy allegations. I’m a bit behind on this thread, but in short, an external threat is like space aliens or something, and existential threat is Jean-Paul Sartre pulling a gun on you. It’s a pretty simple distinction.
April 1Apr 1 33 minutes ago, Mole said: I’m a bit behind on this thread, but in short, an external threat is like space aliens or something, and existential threat is Jean-Paul Sartre pulling a gun on you. It’s a pretty simple distinction. I wouldn’t call aliens a threat. More like salvation at this point.
April 1Apr 1 Stop fucking whining and attacking eachother in posts. Post about the thread topic or don't post at all.
April 1Apr 1 In case anyone missed it, in response to the Salvadoran man that ICE admits was deported by mistake, our VP chimed in with lies and deflection: Quote "My comment is that according to the court document you apparently didn't read he was a convicted MS-13 gang member with no legal right to be here," he wrote. "My further comment is that it's gross to get fired up about gang members getting deported while ignoring citizens they victimize." https://www.newsweek.com/jd-vance-ice-error-man-deported-2053429 The guy was never charged with any crime, let alone convicted of being a gang member. An immigration judge determined he would face threats from gangs if deported to El Salvador.
April 1Apr 1 14 minutes ago, fuggled said: In case anyone missed it, in response to the Salvadoran man that ICE admits was deported by mistake, our VP chimed in with lies and deflection: https://www.newsweek.com/jd-vance-ice-error-man-deported-2053429 The guy was never charged with any crime, let alone convicted of being a gang member. An immigration judge determined he would face threats from gangs if deported to El Salvador. Well, our VP lies. It's kinda what they do. It's kinda what they are. Same dude who just said "Greenlanders want us to take over" in the face of an election just a couple of weeks ago where Greenlanders overwhelmingly voted the other way. We need to quit using the term "misinformation" -- they are liars who traffic in lies, it is their very essence. If you took lies away from them, they would have nothing, do nothing, and say nothing.
April 1Apr 1 @Rex Kramer This isn't an attack, so don't worry about putting your guard up -- I do have a genuine question. Scenario: I fully accept your word that you're not happy about the unconstitutional and, therefore, illegal deportations of migrants who have their proper paperwork. For the moment, let's also say you have a friend or coworker who had done everything right but had a tattoo or something akin to it that, for whatever reason, got them locked up in the Salvadoran prison, which makes you get worked up (I know that you aren't but indulge me and just pretend for a moment), and this causes you to try to convince some of your more skeptical friends that it's unjust and/or dangerous. Question: What kind of argument would you use with those same friends so that you wouldn't come across as hyperbolic but still be persuasive? This isn't a snarky, gotcha kind of question at all. I'd genuinely like to get your perspective on how to be more effective in communicating concerns with friends and neighbors who may not "get it." I'd consider it a favor if you could help me formulate a good response. Thanks in advance. Edit: If you need to think about it for a while, take your time. There's no rush. I understand you have a life outside of Surly. Edited April 1Apr 1 by bolverk
April 1Apr 1 2 hours ago, Brisketexan said: Well, our VP lies. It's kinda what they do. It's kinda what they are. Same dude who just said "Greenlanders want us to take over" in the face of an election just a couple of weeks ago where Greenlanders overwhelmingly voted the other way. We need to quit using the term "misinformation" -- they are liars who traffic in lies, it is their very essence. If you took lies away from them, they would have nothing, do nothing, and say nothing. The truth is whatever they say it is. End of story
April 1Apr 1 12 minutes ago, Rex Kramer said: I do not think I’d have to do anything hyperbolic whatsoever. There’d be enough HP / HPUMC mafia to intercede. We certainly would not waste time comparing the admin to terrorist groups that, again, might simply behead these people. So your line is beheading? Kidnapping doesn’t reach the line of terror?
April 1Apr 1 21 minutes ago, Rex Kramer said: I do not think I’d have to do anything hyperbolic whatsoever. There’d be enough HP / HPUMC mafia to intercede. We certainly would not waste time comparing the admin to terrorist groups that, again, might simply behead these people. Thanks for the response. Okay, so you're confident your social crowd, church group, work colleagues, etc., would mobilize if it happened to someone they know firsthand and care about and would not need convincing. Empathy is a completely natural human response in that case so that response obviously checks out. Barring that personal connection, do you believe those folks would be persuadable otherwise? If so, how?
April 2Apr 2 10 hours ago, Rex Kramer said: Enough would, yes. Without a personal connection to an unfairly jailed Mexican? Probably not. Good question. There are probably enough connections to the administration that they’d somehow get him/her out of their hypothetical situation. Absent that, a pressure campaign. Maybe it has no affect whatsoever. lol you are describing an oligarchy. you know that right? "enough connections to the administration" lol DO YOU MEAN WHITE PEOPLE?
April 2Apr 2 Author No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law. welllll ackshually..... https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/the-austin-area-teen-trump-disappeared-to-el-salvador/ Quote The day before federal agents arrested him, Carlos Daniel Terán Aguilar got his first American bike. He bought it at the local Goodwill store in Cedar Park—baby blue, BMX-style—and rode it around the neighborhood, doing wheelies in the parking lot of the local Chevron station. A friend took a video to mark the occasion. “¡Ándale!” his friend narrated, laughing as the eighteen-year-old circled on the pavement, adding, also in Spanish, “Baby Jesus arrived late this year, but he arrived!” That was Saturday, January 25. On Sunday morning, just past eight, three officers gathered at the Cedar Park home where Daniel—as his family calls him—lived with his father and stepmother, Juan Carlos and Marian Terán, and their two-year-old son, Juan Felipe. They were all from Venezuela, and all were in the country legally. Still, Marian felt nervous when she opened the door and saw the ICE jacket on the lead agent. They were there to arrest Daniel, he said. She asked why, and the ICE agent said they had video footage of him with drugs and guns. The agent didn’t show her a warrant. She went to Daniel’s bedroom, but he initially refused to come out. “He was really scared,” she told me. “He kept saying, ‘I haven’t done anything.’ ” Finally, he opened the door, and the officers took him outside to put him in handcuffs. By this point, a flurry of vehicles had swarmed the house and ten agents were on the scene. They put him in one of the vans, took his photo, and drove away. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to interview requests for this story.) Three weeks later, ICE put out a news release announcing the arrest, saying Daniel was a member of the notorious Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and that he was wanted in Chile for “narcotics and weapons trafficking.” In the photo that accompanied the release, Daniel, all of five feet five and 125 pounds, looked even younger than his eighteen years, with short hair, large brown eyes, and a baby face. He looked terrified. He looked like he was about to cry. Then, on March 15, Daniel became unreachable. His name has since appeared on a list of 237 other Venezuelans deported to El Salvador and taken to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), a megaprison built by the country’s authoritarian leader, Nayib Bukele, to house the thousands of alleged gang members he had arrested in a 2022 crackdown. CECOT has a capacity for 40,000, making it the largest prison in Latin America and one of the largest in the world; it is, according to a former member of the United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture, a “concrete and steel pit.” Human Rights Watch, meanwhile, has said it is not aware of any prisoners having ever been released from the complex. Inmates, who are not allowed visitors, are kept in overcrowded cells that are lit around the clock, and they are let out for thirty minutes a day. Philip Holsinger, a photojournalist from Time, was at the prison when the new residents arrived; he reported how they were kicked, slapped, shoved, and stripped naked; their heads were shaved and they were thrown into cells jammed with some eighty other men to sleep on steel slabs. Juan Carlos Terán knew all about CECOT and was devastated when he found out where his son was. Daniel wasn’t a member of Tren de Aragua, he said. Daniel wasn’t a gunrunner or a drug trafficker; he had gotten into trouble in Chile when he was sixteen, when he and a couple of other teens were caught with drugs and a gun, but that didn’t make him part of a dangerous crime syndicate. He was a teenager who loved playing soccer with his cousins in the front yard. He had a girlfriend. He had a new bike. “My son made a mistake,” said Terán, “smoking marijuana and having the kind of friends who have a gun. But that doesn’t mean that he deserves this kind of injustice, to be in such a prison, somebody who is just a kid who didn’t do anything. He didn’t do anything wrong here.” Terán, despite being in the country lawfully, is terrified that he and his wife and their toddler son could be next. They’ve talked about returning to Venezuela, where life is dangerous but not as fickle as it is in the U.S., once their visas expire. Terán dreams of Daniel being freed and meeting them there. “I’m thinking like a father,” he said, “which is that my son needs me. He needs me to be present and be supporting him.” He told his son, when Daniel was still in detention, that he would make sure his bike was waiting for him. Edited April 2Apr 2 by Captainant
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