Gas Bandit's Political Thread V: The Vampire Likes Bats

GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
1/ Federal immigration agents arrested a Columbia student when he arrived for his citizenship interview in Vermont, despite his legal residency and lack of any criminal charge. Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian-born activist, helped lead pro-Palestinian protests on campus and was publicly named by Betar USA, a hardline pro-Israel group that posted online that Mahdawi was “on our deport list.” Mahdawi’s lawyers said the Trump administration is using a rarely invoked immigration law that allows the Secretary of State to deport legal residents deemed harmful to U.S. foreign policy. They called the arrest “retaliation for his advocacy.” A federal judge blocked Mahdawi’s deportation or transfer out of state, saying, “He was clearly eligible for naturalization. There’s no need to detain a lawful permanent resident incommunicado.” (New York Times / CBS News / Associated Press / The Hill / Washington Post / Axios / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
  • The Constitutional Crisis Is Here. Trump’s administration is only pretending to comply with the Supreme Court on the matter of a Maryland man it deported erroneously.” (The Atlantic)
  • Trump Tests the True Limits of Presidential Power. “The Abrego Garcia case is the latest and most perfectly emblematic example of the new Trump administration’s willingness to test the law.”(National Review)
2/ A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to turn over records and prepare for depositions over its refusal to bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia back from an El Salvador prison, despite a Supreme Court order requiring the government to “facilitate” his return. Judge Paula Xinis accused the Trump administration of stalling, saying: “To date nothing has been done […] There will be no tolerance for gamesmanship or grandstanding.” The administration now claims it lacks authority to retrieve him – even as it pays El Salvador to detain migrants – and top aides like Stephen Miller have now called the deportation legal and intentional. Trump officials continue to insist Abrego Garcia is an MS-13 gang member, but offer no proof beyond a police report from a disgraced officer later convicted for misconduct. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers say the government hasn’t even asked for his release, while Homeland Security warned he could be detained again if he returns. Trump defended the deportation of the legally protected Maryland resident, who is married to a U.S. citizen and has three children, saying: “Isn’t it wonderful that we’re keeping criminals out of our country?” (Washington Post / New York Times / New Republic / NBC News / Associated Press / ABC News / TechDirt)

3/ The Trump administration froze $2.2 billion in federal grants to Harvard after the university refused to adopt Trump’s policy demands tied to campus protests and diversity programs. Trump also threatened Harvard’s tax-exempt status, wondering aloud whether the university should “be Taxed as a Political Entity.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also said Trump wants Harvard to “apologize” for “egregious antisemitism” and questioned why taxpayers fund a university with a $50 billion endowment. Harvard President Alan Garber, meanwhile, called Trump’s demands unconstitutional and said, “No government […] should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.” (Politico / New York Times / CNN / Associated Press / Washington Post / Axios)

poll/ 82% of Americans believe Trump should obey court orders even if he disagrees with them. 56% think Trump should stop “deporting people.” (Strength in Numbers)

The midterm elections are in 567 days.

✏ Notables.
  1. Marjorie Taylor Greene bought up to $315,000 in stock and sold up to $100,000 in U.S. Treasury bills just before Trump announced a 90-day pause on tariffs that triggered the stock market’s biggest rally since 2008. Public disclosures showed Greene purchased shares in companies including Tesla, Amazon, Nvidia, and JPMorgan. (New York Times / Bloomberg / The Hill / USA Today)
  2. A whistleblower alleged that Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency gained high-level access to internal systems at the National Labor Relations Board and removed around 10 gigabytes of sensitive data. The disclosure said DOGE staff disabled logging tools, deleted records, and left parts of the system exposed to the public internet. (Reuters / New Republic / NPR)
  3. The Trump administration has scaled back from prosecuting white-collar crimes, including foreign bribery, money laundering, and crypto violations. A February executive order halted enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, arguing it hurts U.S. companies overseas. Since then, the Justice Department has dropped or paused multiple cases and Attorney General Pam Bondi has removed top career prosecutors and shifted focus to drug cartels and fraud against the government. (Wall Street Journal)
  4. The Trump administration directed the Social Security Administration to classify over 6,000 living immigrants as dead, effectively eliminating their ability to work legally or access benefits. Senior SSA official Greg Pearre opposed the plan, calling it illegal and warning of errors, but was removed and placed on leave. The White House claimed the individuals had ties to criminal activity or terrorism, but provided no evidence. Internal reviews found no criminal records for some of those targeted, including minors and elderly individuals. (Washington Post / USA Today)
  5. Roughly 22,000 IRS employees have signed up for a Trump administration buyout offer, putting the agency on track to lose up to a third of its workforce this year. The IRS had 100,000 employees before Trump took office. Since January, 5,000 have resigned and 7,000 probationary workers were laid off. IRS officials say the staff cuts are already forcing the agency to drop audits and reduce enforcement. (CNN / New York Times / CNBC)
  6. JD Vance fumbled Ohio State’s national championship trophy at the White House. As the band played “We Are the Champions,” Vance tried to lift the 35-pound trophy – then broke it. “I didn’t want anyone after Ohio State to get the trophy so I decided to break it,” Vance said later. (USA Today / NBC News / ABC News)
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
  1. Judge orders four Trump officials to testify within two weeks for defying Supreme Court order to return wrongly deported migrant held in El Salvador prison.
  2. Two Pentagon officials, including top Hegseth adviser, suspended over leak investigation that began with Musk visit rumors.
  3. Trump administration sidelines AP from press pool despite federal court order by shrinking access for all wire outlets.
  4. Hong Kong stops parcel shipments to U.S. after new 120% tariff ends tax-free exception under $800.
  5. Trump exempts nearly 70 coal plants from mercury and toxin pollution limits, including nation’s top polluter.
  6. Trump threatens Harvard’s tax-exempt status day after cutting $2B in funding, also demands school apologize.
  7. Fourth judge blocks Trump’s retaliatory order targeting law firms, calls Susman case ‘immensely oppressive.’
  8. Hunter Biden whistleblower set to become third IRS chief in 3 months after predecessor quits over ICE data deal.
  9. Army and Air Force libraries ordered to review books for DEI content after Navy pulls nearly 400 titles.
  10. Judge orders immediate unfreezing of climate and infrastructure funds, says Trump can’t block laws in perpetuity.
  11. Judge blocks Trump’s Labor Dept from forcing grantees to drop DEI programs, but allows ban on new equity-related grants to stand.
  12. NYC Council sues Mayor Adams over ICE’s return to Rikers, alleging corrupt bargain with Trump to drop charges.
  13. Trump DOJ bans staff from posting about work, including titles or press releases, raising free speech and purge concerns.
  14. 20,000 IRS employees express interest in deferred resignation with pay to September 30.
  15. USDA changes position, backs Arkansas plan to ban soda and candy from food stamps.
  16. Whistleblower report to Congress says DOGE illegally downloaded NLRB data, deleted logs, and threatened him with drone surveillance at home.
 
mikerc

mikerc

The UK Supreme Court has ruled that any protection for women in the Equality Act explicitly do not apply to trans women. Naturally right wing fucktards (like the Tories) have immediately started posting that this "proves" that trans women aren't women.

Because why should America be the only garbage fire country.
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
RFK Jr is laying the grounds for eugenics.

RFK Jr. Is Using a New Study on Autism Rates to Push His Anti-Vaccine Agenda

“These are kids who will never pay taxes,” Kennedy declared. “They’ll never hold a job. They’ll never play baseball. They’ll never write a poem. They’ll never go out on a date. Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted. We have to recognize we are doing this to our children.”

This is propaganda. None of this is true about people with autism, as I'm sure most of you know.

They're not just aiming to discredit vaccines, they're getting ready for death camps.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
  1. Judge says there’s probable cause to hold U.S. in criminal contempt over 1798 law deportations, orders government to respond by April 23 or name officials.
  2. Sen. Van Hollen travels to El Salvador to see Maryland constituent deported under 1798 wartime law, but vice president blocks access.
  3. Bondi says deported MD man is ‘not coming back’ despite Supreme Court order to facilitate return.
  4. DOGE orders AmeriCorps to cut disaster relief corps, stripping young workers of jobs and college aid.
  5. Trump administration ends IRS free filing tool built after tax prep firms misled taxpayers into paying for free services.
  6. Judge allows union lawsuit over DOGE access to Labor Department records to proceed under federal privacy law.
  7. DOGE backs off plan to embed staff at NGO that no longer receives federal funds after legal pushback exposed lack of authority.
  8. Military families sue DOD, say Trump administration censored base school education and banned diverse books.
  9. California sues Trump over tariffs, saying president’s use of emergency powers threatens state economy and violates the law.
  10. Trump admin proposes 30% cut to health budgets, slashing HIV prevention, mental health care, and chronic disease programs.
  11. Trump administration halts offshore wind project set to help power NYC, defying permits and threatening climate and jobs goals.
  12. Third senior Pentagon aide suspended in leak probe as fallout widens inside Trump defense team.
  13. Trump escalates retaliation, asks IRS to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status after $2.2B funding cuts.
  14. DHS threatens to end Harvard’s ability to host international students unless it hands over protest and disciplinary records.
  15. Trump officials asked Medicare to help track undocumented immigrants using a health database tied to Social Security numbers.
  16. Trump officials move to gut endangered species protections by redefining “harm” to exclude habitat destruction.
  17. Trump officials fired 43 NIH science advisers—38 of them women or people of color—in a mass purge with no explanation.
  18. Trump’s State Department eliminates office countering foreign disinformation after pressure from conservative critics.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
1/ A federal judge said he found “probable cause” to hold the Trump administration “in criminal contempt” for its “willful disregard” for his order directing officials to turn around planes carrying deportees to an El Salvador prison. “The Court does not reach such conclusion lightly or hastily; indeed, it has given Defendants ample opportunity to rectify or explain their actions. None of their responses has been satisfactory,” Judge James Boasberg said, giving the White House until April 23 to respond. The Trump administration claimed the migrants were already airborne and later cited “state secrets” to avoid giving details. Boasberg dismissed the excuses, writing that “Every judicial order must be obeyed — no matter how ‘erroneous’ it ‘may be.’” (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / Politico / NPR / NBC News / USA Today / Reuters / Axios / CNN)

2/ The Justice Department will appeal a federal judge’s order requiring the Trump administration to help return Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man “mistakenly” deported to El Salvador despite a court order protecting him. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis accused officials of ignoring a Supreme Court directive and ordered them to testify, citing “no effort” to secure his release. Meanwhile, Senator Chris Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador, but was blocked from visiting or speaking with Abrego Garcia, who remains in a mega-prison holding U.S. deportees. And, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele plans to double the prison’s capacity to detain more alleged gang members deported from the U.S. as part of a deal that includes $6 million in U.S. funding. (ABC News / The Hill / NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)

3/ Fed Chair Jerome Powell warned that Trump’s tariffs are “significantly larger than anticipated” and “highly likely” to drive up inflation while slowing growth. “It’s a difficult place for a central bank to be,” Powell said, as the market sank and the Fed signaled it would hold rates steady. Despite Trump’s claim that tariffs generate $2 billion a day, U.S. Customs say the real figure is closer to $250 million. Meanwhile, the World Trade Organization warned the trade war could trigger the steepest collapse in global trade since the pandemic. Powell admitted, “We may find ourselves in the challenging scenario in which our dual-mandate goals are in tension.” (Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / Axios / Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News / CNBC / Bloomberg / Reuters)

4/ California sued to block Trump’s tariffs, calling them illegal and economically destructive. Gov. Gavin Newsom and AG Rob Bonta argued that Trump overstepped by using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act – a law that “doesn’t even mention tariffs” – to impose sweeping import taxes without Congress. “The president can’t do unlawful things,” Bonta said, while Newsom added: “No state is poised to lose more than California,” citing billions in trade losses and rising prices across agriculture, tech, and construction. “Where the hell is Congress?” Newsom asked. “Do your job.” (Politico / USA Today / The Hill / NBC News / Axios / Washington Post)

5/ The White House eliminated the wire service spot from the press pool, effectively sidelining The Associated Press after losing a federal case over “viewpoint discrimination.” The Trump administration claimed the new rules, which lump AP, Reuters, and Bloomberg into a broader pool rotation, would “treat all outlets equally.” The changes comes after a federal judge ruled the administration violated the First Amendment by punishing the AP for refusing to rename the Gulf of Mexico. “The AP cannot be treated worse than its peer wire services,” the judge wrote. (CNN / Bloomberg / CBS News / Politico)

6/ The Trump administration will ask Congress to rescind $1.1 billion in funds for NPR and PBS. The White House claimed the move is in response to “radical, woke propaganda” and that taxpayers should no longer “subsidize intolerance of non-leftist viewpoints.” If approved, the cuts would eliminate nearly all funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, threatening hundreds of local stations, especially in rural areas. The White House will formally submit the package when Congress returns April 28, triggering a 45-day clock for lawmakers to act. (New York Times / Bloomberg / The Hill / Politico / NPR)

The midterm elections are in 566 days.

✏ Notables.
  1. Secretary of State Marco Rubio shut down the State Department’s only office dedicated to tracking foreign disinformation, eliminating the 40-person team and suspending all operations. The office had monitored propaganda from China, Russia, Iran, and terrorist networks. Rubio, without evidence, accused the office of spending “millions of dollars to actively silence and censor the voices of Americans.” (MIT Technology Review / Politico / New York Times)
  2. Republicans in North Carolina are trying to overturn a certified state Supreme Court election result, targeting thousands of legally cast ballots after their candidate lost by 734 votes. Republican Jefferson Griffin challenged votes from four Democratic counties, focusing on overseas and military ballots and voters with incomplete registration data. Last week, the state Supreme Court ruled that about 5,000 overseas and military voters must prove their identity within 30 days or risk disenfranchisement. (Democracy Docket / Rolling Stone / New Republic)
  3. The Justice Department sued Maine over its refusal to ban transgender athletes from women’s sports. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Maine violated Title IX and warned, “It’s going to stop in every single state.” The lawsuit follows Trump’s February executive order that threatened to cut federal education funding to states allowing transgender girls in women’s competitions. Maine Gov. Janet Mills called the lawsuit “a campaign to pressure the State of Maine to ignore the Constitution.” Federal courts have already blocked some attempts by the administration to withhold funds. (NPR / Associated Press / Reuters / USA Today / Washington Post)
  4. The CDC reported that 1 in 31 American 8-year-olds had autism in 2022, attributing the rise to improved screening — not a spike in actual cases. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nevertheless, immediately dismissed the agency’s findings, calling autism a “preventable” “epidemic” due to vague “environmental toxins,” despite decades of research disproving the claim. “Genes do not cause epidemics,” Kennedy claimed, vowing to identify the cause by September using studies led by a discredited vaccine skeptic. (Washington Post / New York Times / Axios / Politico / NBC News)
 
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