People, this is serious. Major lines are probably being crossed in the name of djt's and MAGA's mindless rage, intense bigotry and vengeance lust.
My post from yesterday is one example. In that situation, djt is seeking personal vengeance against a law firm that represent djt's opponents. His attacks are grounded in lies and defamation, not any actual law breaking. The anti-democracy sentiment and anti-rule of law moral rot speaks for itself.
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But wait! It gets worse!
But MAGA's open contempt for the rule of law gets a lot worse than that. A hell of a lot worse.
On March 6, djt issued an EO (executive order) directing all federal agencies to "enforce" a rule that mandates financial guarantees from parties requesting injunctions. The rule under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65(c) is in place to ensure coverage of potential costs or losses if the court later deems that a temporary restraining order or an injunction was wrongly issued.
The problem with djt's EO is that federal courts have discretion and wide latitude to enforce FRCP 65(c). Under current practice, if a party cannot make the financial guarantee, the court may still issue a temporary restraining order or an injunction but may require alternative arrangements or a waiver of the bond. In some cases, courts have set nominal bonds, such as zero dollars, especially when the plaintiff seeks to protect constitutional rights and a substantial bond would block access to judicial review.
Why is djt doing this? Obviously to deter legitimate legal challenges to the illegal actions that djt and MAGA elites are now taking. The EO puts it in demagogic MAGAspeak like this:
Unelected district judges have issued sweeping injunctions beyond their authority, inserting themselves into executive policymaking and stalling policies voters supported. Activist groups file meritless suits for fundraising and political gain, facing no consequences when they lose, while taxpayers bear the costs and delays.
What djt means by judges acting "beyond their authority" is that judges have issued orders that block the lawbreaking that djt and MAGA elites want to engage in. What djt means by activist groups filing "meritless suits" is people and groups who go to court to oppose the lawbreaking that djt and MAGA elites want to engage in. Finally, what djt means by "executive policymaking and stalling policies voters supported" is that he wants unrestricted power to do whatever he wants. He lies when he refers to "stalling policies voters supported." If voters really understood what is going on, most would probably oppose most of what djt and MAGA elites are doing.
This is a damned serious attack on the rule of law and respect for facts and true truths.
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And, there's this attack on free speech and political opposition
A disturbing article the AP published shows the depth of djt's and MAGA's bigotry:
Immigration agents arrest Palestinian activist
who helped lead Columbia University protests
Federal immigration authorities arrested a Palestinian activist Saturday who played a prominent role in Columbia University’s protests against Israel, a significant escalation in the Trump administration’s pledge to detain and deport student activists.
Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia until this past December, was inside his university-owned apartment Saturday night when several Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents entered and took him into custody, his attorney, Amy Greer, told The Associated Press.
Spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin signaled the arrest was directly connected to Khalil’s role in the protests, alleging he “led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.”
As ICE agents arrived at Khalil’s Manhattan residence Saturday night, they also threatened to arrest Khalil’s wife, an American citizen who is eight months pregnant, Greer said.
Here, djt is following through on his threats to get rid of pro-Palestine foreign student protesters. They are being targeted on the grounds of anti-Semitism and supporting Hamas. This is a deadly serious attack on free speech and political opposition. Now, the US government sees legitimate criticism of Israel as illegal anti-Semitism. The burden of proof is on the US government to prove that Khalil's protests were in support of HAMAS, not legitimate criticism of Israel.
It's not clear if this was legal. At the arrest, ICE agents said they were acting on State Department orders to revoke Khalil’s student visa, but when they were informed that Khalil was in the United States as a permanent resident with a green card, the agent said they were revoking that instead. In other words, ICE agents had no fracking idea of what they were doing. And, ICE was supposed to present a warrant to the university, but when asked if that was done, the university refused to answer the question. I take that to mean that no warrant was produced.
Under current law, a president does not have direct authority to revoke the residency status of a person with permanent resident status and a green card. Residency status revocation is possible for things like (i) a green card holder spending too much time outside the U.S. without a re-entry permit, or (ii) engaging in fraudulent activities or being convicted of certain crimes such as drug trafficking, domestic violence or crimes involving moral turpitude. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security confirmed Khalil’s arrest in a statement Sunday, describing it as being “in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism.”
From what I can tell, djt and MAGA thugs are crossing the line here and breaking laws. But before I change my mind, I'll put the burden of proof on djt to show he isn't breaking laws. Proof will only come after a court case. That assumes there can be a court case because Khalil has "disappeared" while in custody. He may have already been deported and not in a position to go to court in the US.
Under current law, a president does not have direct authority to revoke the residency status of a person with permanent resident status and a green card. Residency status revocation is possible for things like (i) a green card holder spending too much time outside the U.S. without a re-entry permit, or (ii) engaging in fraudulent activities or being convicted of certain crimes such as drug trafficking, domestic violence or crimes involving moral turpitude. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security confirmed Khalil’s arrest in a statement Sunday, describing it as being “in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism.”
From what I can tell, djt and MAGA thugs are crossing the line here and breaking laws. But before I change my mind, I'll put the burden of proof on djt to show he isn't breaking laws. Proof will only come after a court case. That assumes there can be a court case because Khalil has "disappeared" while in custody. He may have already been deported and not in a position to go to court in the US.
Q: Is it reasonable (or rational) or not to think that djt is breaking laws and otherwise doing his best to limit opposition in courts to what he is doing?
