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Trump Dictatorship and All Things Politics

Al-O-Meter said:
Correct. What a foreign sovereign nation does to their own citizen is a foreign affair. What El Salvador does or does not do with El Salvadorian nationals is not within the purview of a lower court judge in the United States. A judge here in the United States can rule the deportation was illegal and levy a sanction, such as a fine, but is constitutionally barred from issuing court orders that direct foreign affairs. Doing so would "exceed the District Court’s authority" as SCOTUS succinctly put it. That a lower court judge in the United States is clearly trying to usurp power beyond the limits placed on the power granted to her by her office should terrify you, and be cause for her removal from the bench. Do not fall into the trap of letting bad actors train all your focus on Trump so they can break laws for there may come a day where you desperately need the guardrails to hold.
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It’s really too late for this. That Trump is trying to assume absolute power is just too obvious at this point. What’s happening is what many saw coming, even from the very day he descended the elevator in Trump Tower in 2015 and announced. Overall, not just in this comment, you have been trying to dissuade our eyes and ears from seeing and hearing the mindset of an authoritarian, intent on controlling what Americans even think! The AP news organ still can’t attend briefings, despite what the courts told the administration. Everyone must think like Trump.

Many of us can see what is happening. It just is not being hidden from us very well, at all! Your most recent “don’t support authoritarianism” advice was absurd at this point. We know who the authoritarian is. Trump. We know who cannot tolerate any dissent is. Trump. We know who is pulling out all the stops to divide Americans. Trump. We know who is rewriting our recent history, with lies, and in support of a power grab, in support of destroying equal status among the three branches of the federal government. Trump.

We can all see this as clearly as can be. You might as well tell us the sun rises in the West, at this point. You’re ensconced in a different reality than many of us. Your advice asks us to reject the clear and obvious understanding of what is happening. Nothing you have ever said can hide the truth. Your’s is the voice of unreason. Your’s is the voice of the blind. Everything is so clear for anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear, that your advice has long since assumed the status of “insulting to the intelligence”.
 
Al-O-Meter said:
That a lower court judge in the United States is clearly trying to usurp power beyond the limits placed on the power granted to her by her office should terrify you
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Start with the wannabe dictator. I honestly think one man trying to assume absolute power over 350 million citizens is a wake up call. Your efforts to take our minds off of Trump’s effort to assume as much power, over our lives, as he can get away with, is just silly at this stage.

pacificlegal.org

The president doesn’t have the power to set tariffs—Congress does

Last week, President Donald Trump announced that his administration would be slapping tariffs on an enormous share of the things Americans buy. Tariffs
pacificlegal.org pacificlegal.org

Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution explicitly grants Congress the power “to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises.” Tariffs, being a form of tax on imports, fall squarely within this provision. Therefore, any effort to impose or modify them must come from the legislative branch.

Despite this clear constitutional mandate, various statutes—such as the Trade Expansion Act of 1962—have been interpreted to allow presidential tariff actions under the guise of national security or economic emergency. However, these laws do not alter the fundamental constitutional structure: Congress cannot relinquish its core powers, and the executive branch cannot assume them without a constitutional amendment. Taxes and tariffs are indisputably a core power of the legislative, not the executive, branch.
 
www.theatlantic.com

The Retired J.P. Morgan Executive Tracking Trump’s Deportation Flights

A CFO turned activist has become a go-to source for understanding the administration’s immigration crackdown.
www.theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com

The Trump administration’s plan to dust off the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 was in the works long before March 15. But the precise timing was hazy. Immigration attorneys went to federal court that morning to try to block the government from using the extraordinary wartime authority, which allows deportations without due process. There were few signs that the White House was about to use the law to send planeloads of Venezuelans to a prison complex in El Salvador.

The first person to alert the public that the flights would actually take place was not an official or a lawyer or a journalist, but a retired J.P. Morgan executive living in Ohio named Tom Cartwright. “TWO HIGHLY UNUSUAL ICE flights showing up now from Harlingen to El Salvador,” he wrote on social media, noting that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had taken that route, flying out of a city in southern Texas, only once during the past month and a half. “Venezuelan deportation??”

Immigration attorneys raced back to court. And the events of the next several hours took the country closer to a constitutional crisis than any other clash to date between Donald Trump and the judicial branch, as Trump officials brushed off D.C. District Court Judge James E. Boasberg’s order to halt the flights.

Cartwright’s role in the episode isn’t well known. But over the past two months, as immigrant-rights groups, congressional aides, and reporters have struggled to keep tabs on the Trump administration’s deportation push, they have relied more and more on Cartwright, a 71-year-old immigrant-rights activist who, in retirement, has become an eagle-eyed tracker of U.S. deportation flights, which the government rarely publicizes.

Every day, he compiles data on ICE flights, applying skills developed over a career managing banks with hundreds of billions of dollars in assets. Using publicly available information from aviation-tracking sites, he produces weekly and monthly reports detailing where ICE Air—the government’s deportation airline—is directing its planes.

Over the past several weeks, Cartwright has become the go-to source for many people looking for details on the Trump administration’s deportation flights to Guantánamo Bay, its use of military transport planes, and the controversial flights to El Salvador. Think tanks and legal organizations cite his work. This past weekend, when The New York Times published a visual report describing how the frequency of U.S. deportation flights has not significantly increased since Trump took office, despite the president’s promises, the article cited “a New York Times review of an independent database.” The database is Cartwright’s. His work was the basis for a similar CNN story earlier this month.

Cartwright began tracking ICE flights during Trump’s first term and continued sending out monthly reports to journalists, nonprofit groups, and congressional staff through the Biden administration. But Trump’s pledge to deport “millions” in his second term—and his mobilization of federal resources and aggressive use of executive authorities—has recently put Cartwright’s data in higher demand.

“He took information that was publicly available but labor-intensive to compile, and did something nobody else was doing,” Adam Isacson, a border-security analyst at the Washington Office on Latin America, a rights organization in D.C., told me. “I don’t know if he expected this second career to make him basically the world’s only credible public source on U.S. deportation flights, just as they were becoming part of one of the United States’ biggest national news stories.”

“He’s indispensable,” added Robyn Barnard, an advocate for refugees with the group Human Rights First, who told me she was stunned when she first learned of Cartwright’s background in banking rather than activism.​


Soft-spoken and bookish, with a graying beard, glasses, and a gentlemanly manner, Cartwright takes a more modest view of his role in the nation’s immigration furor. “I think that these people deserve the dignity of at least someone paying attention to what’s happening to them,” he told me, referring to the deportees on ICE Air. “It’s a dehumanizing process.”
 
Red said:
Despite this clear constitutional mandate, various statutes—such as the Trade Expansion Act of 1962—have been interpreted to allow presidential tariff actions under the guise of national security or economic emergency. However, these laws do not alter the fundamental constitutional structure: Congress cannot relinquish its core powers, and the executive branch cannot assume them without a constitutional amendment. Taxes and tariffs are indisputably a core power of the legislative, not the executive, branch.
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I don't disagree with anything you've written here. Trump is utilizing laws that are likely unconstitutional. Trump didn't enact the laws, but they are there, so he's using them. If SCOTUS were to preside over a case challenging those laws, Trump would likely lose. The only party with standing to bring such a lawsuit would be Congress as they are the party whose powers are being encroached upon, but first they'd have to try repealing the laws they created. Trump is only stepping into a power vacuum left by a Congress who for decades now has been afraid to do their job. It is this same fecklessness out of Congress that has created the unaccountable bureaucratic state.
 
latin jazz said:
The Executive made a mistake and it has all the tools to fix it
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The Executive does have the tools to do what you are suggesting, but those tools are all in the foreign affairs toolbox. When, if, and how to use those tools is at the sole discretion of the Executive. Nobody in the Judicial Branch gets a say in the use of those tools and they certainly cannot compel use of those tools. Judges can't even ask how tools in the foreign affairs toolbox were used.

The ONLY checks and balances in that area all belong to Congress. The Senate gets to ratify treaties. Congress gets to declare war and make appropriations. That is it. That is the whole list.

If you do not approve of the way the Executive is using the foreign affairs tools available, the solution is not to find a judge who thinks she can do whatever she wants. The solution is to champion a candidate for the office of President in the next election and get him elected.

As for Garcia, it may have been an administrative error but I'm not convinced it was a mistake. I've seen nothing to indicate he was an upstanding member of the community. He entered the US illegally, has been found through due process to likely be part of MS-13, has multiple police reports for beating up his wife, and has been in and out of courts for years.
 
The wannabe dictator needs to shut the eff up and keep his hands off our institutions of higher learning. Academic freedom means keep your hands off! Trump wants to dictate, to control, what Americans say and think! What more evidence do we need that he is just another Putin. The man thinks way the hey too highly of himself. A legend in his own mind, determined to be an absolute power dictator.

Actions, or threatened actions, like this are the clearest indication that if you do not say, and THINK, as Trump DEMANDS, then he will punish you. He will exact retribution against anyone and everyone who dares to SPEAK THE TRUTH while he holds power. He will be as much of a dictator as the courts and we, the people, permit.

“White House threatens to stop Harvard enrolling foreign students
Richard Connor with AP, AFP, Reuters | Zac Crellin Editor

The administration of US President Donald Trump has said it will stop Harvard University from enrolling international students if the college does not agree to government demands placing it under political supervision.

Trump is furious with university — which has produced 162 Nobel prize winners — for rejecting his request to submit to oversight on admissions, hiring and political opinion.

"If Harvard cannot verify it is in full compliance with its reporting requirements, the university will lose the privilege of enrolling foreign students," read a statement from the Department of Homeland Security.

Trump himself called Harvard a "joke" on Wednesday and said it should lose its contracts for government research.

Earlier this week, the White House said it would freeze more than $2.2 billion (€1.94 billion) in grants and $60 million in contracts with Harvard.

White House threatens to stop Harvard enrolling foreign students – DW – 04/17/2025

p.dw.com p.dw.com
 
Last edited:
Red said:
Academic freedom means keep your hands off!
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YES!!! Glad to finally have you onboard.

  • Abolish the draconian federal Department of Education where the hand-on are employed.
  • End the federal government attempt to influence academic institutions through dirty money via grants and student loan facilitation.
  • Stop influencing the composition of student bodies by approving student visas for those who have no reason to be in the United States beyond being in a student body.

@Red and I agree that "Hands off means hands off!"
 
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Red said:
www.theatlantic.com

The Retired J.P. Morgan Executive Tracking Trump’s Deportation Flights

A CFO turned activist has become a go-to source for understanding the administration’s immigration crackdown.
www.theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com

The Trump administration’s plan to dust off the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 was in the works long before March 15. But the precise timing was hazy. Immigration attorneys went to federal court that morning to try to block the government from using the extraordinary wartime authority, which allows deportations without due process. There were few signs that the White House was about to use the law to send planeloads of Venezuelans to a prison complex in El Salvador.

The first person to alert the public that the flights would actually take place was not an official or a lawyer or a journalist, but a retired J.P. Morgan executive living in Ohio named Tom Cartwright. “TWO HIGHLY UNUSUAL ICE flights showing up now from Harlingen to El Salvador,” he wrote on social media, noting that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had taken that route, flying out of a city in southern Texas, only once during the past month and a half. “Venezuelan deportation??”

Immigration attorneys raced back to court. And the events of the next several hours took the country closer to a constitutional crisis than any other clash to date between Donald Trump and the judicial branch, as Trump officials brushed off D.C. District Court Judge James E. Boasberg’s order to halt the flights.

Cartwright’s role in the episode isn’t well known. But over the past two months, as immigrant-rights groups, congressional aides, and reporters have struggled to keep tabs on the Trump administration’s deportation push, they have relied more and more on Cartwright, a 71-year-old immigrant-rights activist who, in retirement, has become an eagle-eyed tracker of U.S. deportation flights, which the government rarely publicizes.

Every day, he compiles data on ICE flights, applying skills developed over a career managing banks with hundreds of billions of dollars in assets. Using publicly available information from aviation-tracking sites, he produces weekly and monthly reports detailing where ICE Air—the government’s deportation airline—is directing its planes.

Over the past several weeks, Cartwright has become the go-to source for many people looking for details on the Trump administration’s deportation flights to Guantánamo Bay, its use of military transport planes, and the controversial flights to El Salvador. Think tanks and legal organizations cite his work. This past weekend, when The New York Times published a visual report describing how the frequency of U.S. deportation flights has not significantly increased since Trump took office, despite the president’s promises, the article cited “a New York Times review of an independent database.” The database is Cartwright’s. His work was the basis for a similar CNN story earlier this month.

Cartwright began tracking ICE flights during Trump’s first term and continued sending out monthly reports to journalists, nonprofit groups, and congressional staff through the Biden administration. But Trump’s pledge to deport “millions” in his second term—and his mobilization of federal resources and aggressive use of executive authorities—has recently put Cartwright’s data in higher demand.

“He took information that was publicly available but labor-intensive to compile, and did something nobody else was doing,” Adam Isacson, a border-security analyst at the Washington Office on Latin America, a rights organization in D.C., told me. “I don’t know if he expected this second career to make him basically the world’s only credible public source on U.S. deportation flights, just as they were becoming part of one of the United States’ biggest national news stories.”

“He’s indispensable,” added Robyn Barnard, an advocate for refugees with the group Human Rights First, who told me she was stunned when she first learned of Cartwright’s background in banking rather than activism.​


Soft-spoken and bookish, with a graying beard, glasses, and a gentlemanly manner, Cartwright takes a more modest view of his role in the nation’s immigration furor. “I think that these people deserve the dignity of at least someone paying attention to what’s happening to them,” he told me, referring to the deportees on ICE Air. “It’s a dehumanizing process.”
Click to expand...
Great post. Interesting new info
 
Red said:
Start with the wannabe dictator. I honestly think one man trying to assume absolute power over 350 million citizens is a wake up call. Your efforts to take our minds off of Trump’s effort to assume as much power, over our lives, as he can get away with, is just silly at this stage.

pacificlegal.org

The president doesn’t have the power to set tariffs—Congress does

Last week, President Donald Trump announced that his administration would be slapping tariffs on an enormous share of the things Americans buy. Tariffs
pacificlegal.org pacificlegal.org

Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution explicitly grants Congress the power “to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises.” Tariffs, being a form of tax on imports, fall squarely within this provision. Therefore, any effort to impose or modify them must come from the legislative branch.

Despite this clear constitutional mandate, various statutes—such as the Trade Expansion Act of 1962—have been interpreted to allow presidential tariff actions under the guise of national security or economic emergency. However, these laws do not alter the fundamental constitutional structure: Congress cannot relinquish its core powers, and the executive branch cannot assume them without a constitutional amendment. Taxes and tariffs are indisputably a core power of the legislative, not the executive, branch.
Click to expand...
Yeah but this is just a jumble of meaningless words if the legislative branch just ignores their responsibility in order to ride the dictator's coattails and kiss his ***. This takes ACTION to step in and stop it, otherwise he can just do what he wants to and that is exactly what the New American Fascists are counting on.
 
LogGrad98 said:
He is a known troll. A good chunk of us have him on ignore for this reason.
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Ya Al argument and how stupid it is could be explained in this hypothetical:

Congress passes legislation that says it's ok for the president to kill whoever he wants for whatever reason.
trump grabs a machine gun and walks down the street murdering every one he sees.

Now most of us would be pissed at Congress for creating the law and even more mad at trump for actually doing the murdering.

Al would be like, well the voters should just vote in some different congressmen and have them change the laws. What trump is doing is allowed so it's all good.
 
fishonjazz said:
Ya Al argument and how stupid it is could be explained in this hypothetical:

Congress passes legislation that says it's ok for the president to kill whoever he wants for whatever reason.
trump grabs a machine gun and walks down the street murdering every one he sees.

Now most of us would be pissed at Congress for creating the law and even more mad at trump for actually doing the murdering.

Al would be like, well the voters should just vote in some different congressmen and have them change the laws. What trump is doing is allowed so it's all good.
Click to expand...
That is the exact argument you all use to dismiss the horror of women killing their unborn children, and that isn't a hypothetical. Trump isn't strolling down any streets murdering people with machine guns, but the lives of millions of children are being snuffed out. Unlike you lot, I don't have a completely broken moral compass and would loudly oppose Trump if he were to do such a thing.
 
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