Politics Current Events March 13-18

[nycfan]

Looks like the Trump Administration is ignoring this court order:

Trump Administration Live Updates: Rubio Announces Deportations After Judge Orders Flights Halted​

Judge Orders Halt on Deportations of Venezuelans Under Wartime Law: Trump Administration Live Updates

www.nytimes.com

“… The Trump administration hopes that the unusual prisoner transfer deal — not a swap but an agreement for El Salvador to take suspected gang members — will be the beginning of a larger effort to use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to rapidly arrest and deport those it identifies as members of Tren de Aragua without many of the legal processes common in immigration cases.

The Alien Enemies Act allows for summary deportations of people from countries at war with the United States. The law, best known for its role in the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, has been invoked three times in U.S. history — during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II — according to the Brennan Center for Justice, a law and policy organization.

On Saturday, Judge James E. Boasberg of Federal District Court in Washington issued a temporary restraining order blocking the government from deporting any immigrants under the law after President Trump issued an executive order invoking it.

In a hastily scheduled hearing sought by the American Civil Liberties Union, the judge said he did not believe federal law allowed the president’s action, and ordered that any flights that had departed with Venezuelan immigrants under Trump’s executive order to return to the United States “however that’s accomplished — whether turning around the plane or not.”

“This is something you need to make sure is complied with immediately,” he said.

A lawyer representing the government, Drew Ensign, told the judge that he did not have many details to share and that describing operational details would raise “national security issues.”

The precise timing of the flights to El Salvador is important because Judge Boasberg issued his order shortly before 7 p.m. in Washington, but video posted from El Salvador shows them disembarking the plane at night. El Salvador is two time zones behind Washington, raising questions about whether the Trump administration ignored an explicit court order. …”

 

[WaynetheDrain]

So judicial rulings are meaningless now, huh?
I hope the next Democratic president remembers that in reference to the Dobbs decision.

 

[UNCMSinLS]

So judicial rulings are meaningless now, huh?
I hope the next Democratic president remembers that in reference to the Dobbs decision.

In a sane world, impeachment proceedings would begin immediately and a month from now Trump would no longer be in office.

 

[Mulberry Heel]

Well, to be fair it is kind of hypocritical for us to be criticizing autocrats in other nations when we're rapidly developing our own all-powerful autocrat right here in the good 'ol US of A. I should say that I'm kidding, but given where we're headed I'm not at all sure I should be kidding.

 

[nycfan]

 

[nycfan]

“… A federal appeals court allowed the Trump administration to implement bans on diversity, equity and inclusion programs at federal agencies and businesses that contract with the federal government.

In a late Friday decision, a three-judge panel of the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., lifted a lower court injunction that halted the enforcement of two Trump executive orders targeting DEI programs.

… The ruling, which came in a lawsuit by the city of Baltimore and three advocacy groups, wasn’t a final judgment on whether the orders are lawful, but allows the Trump administration to enforce them while litigation unfolds. The appeals court said it would set an expedited briefing schedule to hear arguments, but a decision could still take months.

… The three judges on the panel—two of whom were appointed by President Barack Obama—all wrote separate concurring opinions. While all three agreed to lift the Feb. 21 injunction imposed by U.S. District Judge Adam Abelson, they signaled potential disagreement on the ultimate question of whether Trump’s executive orders are constitutional.

… The two Obama appointees on the panel, Judges Albert Diaz and Pamela Harris, said they hadn’t reached a final conclusion on whether the orders are lawful, adding that it might depend on how they are implemented.

“This is a difficult case that will benefit from more sustained attention than we can give it in the present posture,” Harris wrote. “But for now, I believe the government has shown a sufficient likelihood of success to warrant a stay until we can hear and decide its appeal.”

Judge Allison Jones Rushing, a Trump appointee, wrote separately to say the administration was likely to succeed in demonstrating the executive orders were constitutional. …”

 

[nycfan]

As a Fox News weekend commentator he had no obligation to care about what happens in Yemen. As U.S. Defense Secretary he has an obligation to know what is going on and care how it impacts world security.

 

[Mulberry Heel]

As a Fox News weekend commentator he had no obligation to care about what happens in Yemen. As U.S. Defense Secretary he has an obligation to know what is going on and care how it impacts world security.

This might be a good time to mention yet again that our current government is literally being run by Fox News talking heads, pro wrestling execs, reality show stars, conspiracy quacks and loons, college-age computer hackers and nerds with virtually no job or life experience and no expertise at all in how government agencies and programs work, and an unelected, unappointed nutcase and racist who just happens to be the world's wealthiest man, but who has developed a track record of running miserable, dysfunctional workplaces and tanking his company's stocks. And many of these appointees have a long record of drug and alcohol abuse, sexual assault, and blatant racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. And that's without even mentioning Trump himself. Anyone who thinks this is all going to end well is simply fooling themselves, imo.

 

[Calheel]

As a Fox News weekend commentator he had no obligation to care about what happens in Yemen. As U.S. Defense Secretary he has an obligation to know what is going on and care how it impacts world security.

But that just goes along with their isolationist tendencies. Do the indigenous tribes of Papua New Guinea care what happens in the Yemeni Civil War? Then why should the US? At least that is the mindset of Hegseth, et al. It goes hand in hand with the America First isolationist mentality of the 1930s.

Basically, Trump's baseline position is that he wants to withdraw from being the world police. When that is your mindset, it makes sense to have no interest in the Yemeni civil war.

 

[nycfan]

 

[nycfan]

 

[nycfan]

Trump Administration Live Updates: Rubio Announces Deportations After Judge Orders Flights Halted​

Judge Orders Halt on Deportations of Venezuelans Under Wartime Law: Trump Administration Live Updates

www.nytimes.com

“… The Trump administration hopes that the unusual prisoner transfer deal — not a swap but an agreement for El Salvador to take suspected gang members — will be the beginning of a larger effort to use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to rapidly arrest and deport those it identifies as members of Tren de Aragua without many of the legal processes common in immigration cases.

The Alien Enemies Act allows for summary deportations of people from countries at war with the United States. The law, best known for its role in the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, has been invoked three times in U.S. history — during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II — according to the Brennan Center for Justice, a law and policy organization.

On Saturday, Judge James E. Boasberg of Federal District Court in Washington issued a temporary restraining order blocking the government from deporting any immigrants under the law after President Trump issued an executive order invoking it.

In a hastily scheduled hearing sought by the American Civil Liberties Union, the judge said he did not believe federal law allowed the president’s action, and ordered that any flights that had departed with Venezuelan immigrants under Trump’s executive order to return to the United States “however that’s accomplished — whether turning around the plane or not.”

“This is something you need to make sure is complied with immediately,” he said.

A lawyer representing the government, Drew Ensign, told the judge that he did not have many details to share and that describing operational details would raise “national security issues.”

The precise timing of the flights to El Salvador is important because Judge Boasberg issued his order shortly before 7 p.m. in Washington, but video posted from El Salvador shows them disembarking the plane at night. El Salvador is two time zones behind Washington, raising questions about whether the Trump administration ignored an explicit court order. …”

 

[nycfan]

 

[nycfan]

[They supported Trump but she was not eligible to vote]

 

[Mulberry Heel]

[They supported Trump but she was not eligible to vote]

I just don't know what to say about these types of situations - and there are going to be many other situations like this for at least the next four years, unfortunately. It's a tragic story, an outrage and frightening that this could happen in this country, and yet the guy voted for Trump and she supported Trump even though she couldn't vote and she's precisely the type of immigrant who was most vulnerable to Trump 2.0. And of course they both thought that Trump was only going to go after somebody else - some other immigrants. I've read that in Florida a great many Venezuelans and other Latinos voted for Trump or supported him, and yet now they are in the crosshairs of Trump and the GOP's deportation efforts. Sometimes all you can do is just shake your head at how so many people can be so willfully blind.

 

[lawtig02]

I’d just like to point out that in the great Feint v. Threat battle of 2025, these particular flights are the best example we’ve seen yet of strategic feints. Nobody gives a shit about Venezuelan gang members who were likely encouraged to come to the US by the MAGA-like regime currently controlling Caracas. But the invocation of the Alien Enemies Act has very little to do with the Venezuelans. It’s the key to Miller and his cronies getting ALL people they don’t like out of the country. So let’s keep our eyes on the ball. The Venezuelan gang members don’t matter. The EO Trump signed matters immensely.

 

[nycfan]

“… White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, in a statement Sunday, responded to speculation about whether the administration was flouting court orders:

“The administration did not ‘refuse to comply’ with a court order. The order, which had no lawful basis, was issued after terrorist TdA aliens had already been removed from U.S. territory.” …”​

 

[nycfan]

I’d just like to point out that in the great Feint v. Threat battle of 2025, these particular flights are the best example we’ve seen yet of strategic feints. Nobody gives a shit about Venezuelan gang members who were likely encouraged to come to the US by the MAGA-like regime currently controlling Caracas. But the invocation of the Alien Enemies Act has very little to do with the Venezuelans. It’s the key to Miller and his cronies getting ALL people they don’t like out of the country. So let’s keep our eyes on the ball. The Venezuelan gang members don’t matter. The EO Trump signed matters immensely.

You are correct. I think they slightly miscalculated with the guys they targeted at Columbia with the same maneuver but I agree that they are seeking to make this work with the most unsympathetic targets they can find and expand from there.

 

[Mulberry Heel]

“… White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, in a statement Sunday, responded to speculation about whether the administration was flouting court orders:

“The administration did not ‘refuse to comply’ with a court order. The order, which had no lawful basis, was issued after terrorist TdA aliens had already been removed from U.S. territory.” …”​

I suspect we're going to be hearing that more and more often in the future. As federal court orders are the only thing restraining Trump or Musk or DOGE right now - god knows Congress isn't doing anything - I fully expect Trump's administration will just start ignoring court rulings that go against them, just as the administration ignored this one. And I suspect that most of his supporters will find some way to justify it, just as they have everything else that he's done so far.

 

[mpaer]

Be fun to see if anything comes of this