The NYT writes about resegregating America again: The Trump administration has removed a longstanding directive from the civil rights era that explicitly prohibited federal contractors from allowing segregated facilities, the latest move to eradicate diversity, equity and inclusion policies from government operations that has drawn fierce rebuke. The removal of the segregated-facilities policy was included in a memo last month from the General Services Administration, which manages federal property and oversees procurement for the federal government.
Crushing the life out of DEI: djt and MAGA elites call DEI “harmful” and “wasteful” diversity policies, and “gender ideology extremism.” Well, that source of harm, waste and gender extremism will soon be fully eradicated from the federal govt. MAGA is also attacking DEI and woke just about everywhere outside of the federal government, including public schools and universities (Columbia U, U Penn, etc.), law firms, woke tech firms (Google, Cisco, Meta, etc.), woke retail firms (Target, Walmart, etc.), beer companies, woke churches, woke M&Ms candy, the LGBQT community, women, racial minorities, ethnic minorities, Democrats, liberals, the mainstream media (NYT, NBC, MSNBC, etc.), woke law enforcement agencies, non-profit groups that promote DEI initiatives, entertainment companies (Disney, ViacomCBS, etc.), health care organizations, the American Medical Association, financial institutions (JP Morgan, Citigroup), pharmaceutical companies (Merck), airplane companies (Delta), sports conglomerates (NFL, MLB, NBA), Human Rights Watch, NAACP, large philanthropic organizations with assets over $500 million, . . . . . . you get the point. MAGA attacks use various tactics including boycotts, regulatory threats, federal investigations, public condemnation, demagoguery, lies, slanders, etc. So far, a lot organizations have responded by scaling back or completely dismantling their diversity initiatives. So killing DEI and obliterating its existence is well underway.
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The NYT reports: IRS Prepares to Help Find Immigrants Targeted for Deportation -- The tax agency is nearing an agreement to verify whether ICE officials have the right address for people they are trying to deport. Many undocumented immigrants file tax returns with the I.R.S., giving the agency information about where they live, their families, their employers and their earnings. The I.R.S. has long encouraged undocumented immigrants to pay their taxes, giving people without Social Security numbers a separate nine-digit code called an individual taxpayer identification number to file their returns.
Well, at least MAGA is trying to deport the people it targets as opposed to randomly grabbing people off the streets. But once the IRS has been coerced into working with djt and other MAGA elites in power, all of us are potential targets for IRS harassment.
Flights are not a perfect measure of deportations. Many immigrants are deported by land to Mexico, and others on regular commercial airline travel. But because the federal government has not released data on whom it is deporting, tracking deportation flights is a way to assess which people and countries are affected by djt’s immigration policy
Safety tip: Either (1) do not make any mistakes on you tax filings and get ready for an audit by Dr. Proctoscope, or (2) don't publicly criticize djt or MAGA generally.
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A WaPo article reports (not paywalled) about the spread of racist, bigoted, authoritarian MAGA demagoguery and tactics to other authoritarians: Autocrats roll back rights and rule of law — and cite Trump’s example -- Trump’s statements, policies and actions are providing cover for attacks on LGBTQ+ rights, freedom of expression and the rule of law around the world. Under Hungary’s antigay “propaganda” law, bookstores were fined for selling LGBTQ+ themed tomes without sealed plastic wrappers and a museum director was fired for allowing minors into an exhibit with images of same-sex couples. But the autocratic government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban stopped short of targeting the community’s premier event: the annual Pride parade. Until now. Parliament voted overwhelmingly this month to ban the event — and threatened to use facial recognition technology to identify violators. What changed? According to Orban, it was the return to the White House of President Donald Trump.
So, MAGA-style racism, bigotry, sexism, and hate of the LGBQT community and the rule of law is popular with dictators, authoritarian politicians and maybe lots of average people too. Once can only wonder how much of the ocean of hate and malicious ill-will has been fomented and amplified by decades of far right authoritarian demagoguery, lies and slanders. Most of it, I suspect. Maybe ~80%?
