Are we now officially in a dictatorship?

[Red]

Apparently, the Trump administration is attempting to extend dictatorial orders to European cities. This is insane.

Stockholm is latest city to refuse 'bizarre' US request to abandon diversity

The Stockholm City Council has rejected the US embassy's demand that it adopt the Trump administration's anti-diversity policies, with Stockholm’s vice-mayor for planning calling the request "bizarre".…

www.france24.com

The Stockholm City Council has rejected the US embassy's demands that it roll back diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies at the behest of the Trump administration.

In his inauguration speech, US President Donald Trump vowed to end what he sweepingly but vaguely called efforts to “socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life”.

This has translated into attempts to eliminate programmes in the United States that seek to encourage diversity and equality in education, the work force and beyond.

In an email to the city's planning office dated April 29, the US embassy asked that Stockholm officials sign a document promising that contractors would not operate any programmes promoting DEI that would violate current US law.

“It’s so bizarre,” Jan Valeskog, Stockholm’s vice-mayor for city planning, told the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter on Tuesday.

The city council said Friday that it would not comply with the embassy's demands or offer an official response.

“We were really surprised, of course,” Valeskog told The Associated Press.

“We will not sign this document at all, of course not.”

Valeskog said that while the city wants to maintain a good relationship with the US embassy, it will follow Swedish law and current city policies even if they include DEI practices.

Countries and cities across Europe have received similar demands from US embassies – including France, Belgium and the city of Barcelona – all of which have lashed out at the attempt to expand anti-diversity policies to the continent.

US Embassy demanded Stockholm officials comply with Trump's anti-DEI policies. They refused

The U.S. Embassy in Sweden's capital requested the city's compliance with Trump's "anti-discrimination law."

www.snopes.com

Folks, DEI is not evil. It is not something that needs to be eradicated, like cancer. This effort is nuts. With all the problems, in our nation, in our world, on the only home we have, Earth, stamping out DEI the world over is a fairly glaring example of how this administration is completely off its rocker. The world will follow Trump’s orders? DEI is the greatest threat our planet faces, and Trump will lead us out of DEI’s valley of darkness? Oh yeah, the guy is our first truly “looney tune” leader.




View: https://x.com/Polytemple/status/1920599195548856377

 

[fishonjazz]

Apparently, the Trump administration is attempting to extend dictatorial orders to European cities. This is insane.

Stockholm is latest city to refuse 'bizarre' US request to abandon diversity

The Stockholm City Council has rejected the US embassy's demand that it adopt the Trump administration's anti-diversity policies, with Stockholm’s vice-mayor for planning calling the request "bizarre".…

www.france24.com

The Stockholm City Council has rejected the US embassy's demands that it roll back diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies at the behest of the Trump administration.

In his inauguration speech, US President Donald Trump vowed to end what he sweepingly but vaguely called efforts to “socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life”.

This has translated into attempts to eliminate programmes in the United States that seek to encourage diversity and equality in education, the work force and beyond.

In an email to the city's planning office dated April 29, the US embassy asked that Stockholm officials sign a document promising that contractors would not operate any programmes promoting DEI that would violate current US law.

“It’s so bizarre,” Jan Valeskog, Stockholm’s vice-mayor for city planning, told the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter on Tuesday.

The city council said Friday that it would not comply with the embassy's demands or offer an official response.

“We were really surprised, of course,” Valeskog told The Associated Press.

“We will not sign this document at all, of course not.”

Valeskog said that while the city wants to maintain a good relationship with the US embassy, it will follow Swedish law and current city policies even if they include DEI practices.

Countries and cities across Europe have received similar demands from US embassies – including France, Belgium and the city of Barcelona – all of which have lashed out at the attempt to expand anti-diversity policies to the continent.

US Embassy demanded Stockholm officials comply with Trump's anti-DEI policies. They refused

The U.S. Embassy in Sweden's capital requested the city's compliance with Trump's "anti-discrimination law."

www.snopes.com

Folks, DEI is not evil. It is not something that needs to be eradicated, like cancer. This effort is nuts. With all the problems, in our nation, in our world, on the only home we have, Earth, stamping out DEI the world over is a fairly glaring example of how this administration is completely off its rocker. The world will follow Trump’s orders? DEI is the greatest threat our planet faces, and Trump will lead us out of DEI’s valley of darkness? Oh yeah, the guy is our first truly “looney tune” leader.




View: https://x.com/Polytemple/status/1920599195548856377

Wow. trump is such a douche

 

[Red]

Rewriting history is usually a priority for authoritarians. To justify their crimes. I’ve been of the belief that Trump would want high school American history texts to be revised to reflect the lie that Trump won the 2020 election. That has not happened, and may never, but the idea has supporters in one state.

Oklahoma high schools to teach 2020 election conspiracy theories as fact

State superintendent Ryan Walters tapped chief of Heritage Foundation, key player behind Project 2025, for curriculum

www.theguardian.com

 

[The Thriller]

Rewriting history is usually a priority for authoritarians. To justify their crimes. I’ve been of the belief that Trump would want high school American history texts to be revised to reflect the lie that Trump won the 2020 election. That has not happened, and may never, but the idea has supporters in one state.

Oklahoma high schools to teach 2020 election conspiracy theories as fact

State superintendent Ryan Walters tapped chief of Heritage Foundation, key player behind Project 2025, for curriculum

www.theguardian.com

But at least egg prices are down and our 401ks are up, right?

 

[PJF]

Great thread on why Trump is doing so well.


View: https://x.com/ProfKyleWelch/status/1924742180838445396?t=nTLYAiAcwO_l5oeSqe4KTg&s=19


Epiphany today: Trump didn’t just weaponize outrage—he weaponized partisanship.

He saw that many people treat political parties like religion. It’s not about policy—it’s about identity. No matter what changes, they stay loyal.

1/3

Trump hijacked the best parts of both parties—anti-war, pro-worker, pro-consumer—and made them his.

And the opposition? Forced to reject their own longtime values just to stay anti-Trump. It’s stunning.

2/3

It’s ruthless and brilliant.

The only way it breaks is if Democrats decide hating Trump 24/7 isn’t worth surrendering the values that once made them attractive.

Until then, Trump controls the board— because he’s playing a different game.

3/3

 

[Red]

Yikes…I don’t know if this was included in the House bill..

A Terrible Idea

Dean Chemerinsky discusses the reconciliation bill’s provision that would restrict federal courts’ authority to hold government officials in contempt for violating court orders

www.justsecurity.org

Now is not the time to limit the ability of federal courts to enforce their judicial orders. But in light of dozens of federal courts finding actions by President Donald Trump to be unconstitutional, some House Republicans are trying to do exactly that. A provision in the proposed spending bill would restrict the authority of federal courts to hold government officials in contempt when they violate court orders. Without the contempt power, judicial orders are meaningless and can be ignored.

There is no way to understand this except as a way to keep the Trump administration from being restrained when it violates the Constitution or otherwise breaks the law. The House and the Senate should reject this effort to limit judicial power. Hopefully recent public opinion survey data — showing vast majorities want the Trump administration to stop an action if a federal court ruled it illegal – will guide these legislators to the right outcome. If this anti-democratic legislation is adopted, the courts should declare it unconstitutional as violating separation of powers.

The provision in the proposed budget reconciliation bill states: “No court of the United States may use appropriated funds to enforce a contempt citation for failure to comply with an injunction or temporary restraining order if no security was given when the injunction or order was issued pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65(c), whether issued prior to, on, or subsequent to the date of enactment of this section.”

By its very terms this provision is meant to limit the power of federal courts to use their contempt power. It does so by relying on a relatively rarely used provision of the Rules that govern civil cases in federal court. Rule 65(c) says that judges may issue a preliminary injunction or a temporary restraining order “only if the movant gives security in an amount that the court considers proper to pay the costs and damages sustained by any party found to have been wrongfully enjoined or restrained.”

But federal courts understandably rarely require that a bond be posted by those who are restraining unconstitutional federal, state, or local government actions. Those seeking such court orders generally do not have the resources to post a bond, and insisting on it would immunize unconstitutional government conduct from judicial review. It always has been understood that courts can choose to set the bond at zero….

…..But the provision in the House bill would make the court orders in these cases completely unenforceable. Indeed, the bill is stunning in its scope. It would apply to all temporary restraining orders, preliminary injunctions, and even permanent injunctions ever issued. By its terms, it applies to court orders “issued prior to, on, or subsequent” to its adoption.

……This would be a stunning restriction on the power of the federal courts. The Supreme Court has long recognized that the contempt power is integral to the authority of the federal courts. Without the ability to enforce judicial orders, they are rendered mere advisory opinions which parties are free to disregard.