The Politics Thread

Why the illegally kidnapped and deported person Mr. Garcia has not been returned to the USA ...

The president told a Central American dictator to build five more massive slave labor camps to hold US citizens.

 

— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw.bsky.social) April 14, 2025 at 9:43 AM

 

 

https://www.lawdork.com/p/trump-told-us-the-horrifying-reason

On Monday, President Donald Trump told us why Abrego Garcia is not back. Abrego Garcia cannot be brought back because his continued imprisonment there — and the success of its underlying claim that the U.S. doesn’t have the authority to bring him back — is key to the Trump administration’s lawless plans to create an outside-the-law prison system to hold anyone it dislikes, including U.S. citizens.

“You know what I want them to do?” Trump told El Salvador President Nayib Bukele as the two walked into the Oval Office. “Homegrown criminals next.”

Repeating it to the others in the room — including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Attorney General Pam Bondi — Trump said, “I said, ‘Homegrowns are next.’ The homegrowns.” adding that Bukele would need to “build about five more places.

Edited April 15Apr 15 by janea4old

It's all awful. Can't say that any one thing is more horrific than another.  Just that the latest horror (whatever that latest horror is at the current moment) is overwritten in the news by the next horror, and then the one after that.

Edited April 15Apr 15 by janea4old

14 hours ago, janea4old said:

It's all awful. Can't say that any one thing is more horrific than another.  Just that the latest horror (whatever that latest horror is at the current moment) is overwritten in the news by the next horror, and then the one after that.

It's more than awful. I knew it was gonna be bad when he was elected, but this is way worse than I think anyone could have imagined. Every day he reaches a new low and I have stopped wondering how he low can go. I don't think he has a limit.

Edited April 15Apr 15 by I Am A Swede

This poll was taken a week before Tr*mp said he would do it

 

Edited April 16Apr 16 by janea4old

On 4/14/2025 at 11:46 AM, janea4old said:

April 14, 2025
Hungary just approved a constitutional amendment to ban Pride and any LGBTQ+ public events
https://apnews.com/article/hungary-pride-ban-amendment-orban-gay-rights-lgbtq-155ec12cbbde7cc6be0f96adb323de77

Earlier article detailing what would happen when this is enacted
https://apnews.com/article/hungary-constitutional-amendment-lgbtq-rights-710e5dc9005f0c802cb342f32afacbd5

Very sad. 

We will have that within a few years.

1 hour ago, DRW50 said:

Very sad. 

We will have that within a few years.

Do you think it will take that long?

15 minutes ago, I Am A Swede said:

Do you think it will take that long?

Depends on how many other distractions they find first. (distractions being completely destroying our economy and government) This law is the type of focus all fascist slaughterhouses turn to and we'd probably be there even faster if Trump wasn't so busy golfing and begging Russia to love him. If we ever get President JD, I imagine it's at the top of his list, along with humiliating his wife and tweeting about how "based" he is.

posting this in multiple social media formats because... I think it's helpful

https://bsky.app/profile/vanhollen.senate.gov/post/3lmwe64rexc2p

I’m about to board my flight to El Salvador, where I hope to meet with senior government officials to discuss the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. I also hope to see Kilmar and check on his condition — and remind him that we won’t stop fighting until he’s home.

[image or embed]

— Senator Chris Van Hollen (@vanhollen.senate.gov) April 16, 2025 at 3:13 AM

 

 

https://x.com/ChrisVanHollen/status/1912447452117942763

I’m about to board my flight to El Salvador, where I hope to meet with senior government officials to discuss the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

I also hope to see Kilmar and check on his condition — and remind him that we won’t stop fighting until he’s home. pic.twitter.com/dunE0lytIb

— Senator Chris Van Hollen (@ChrisVanHollen) April 16, 2025

 

Copy of the same on Threads:
https://www.threads.net/@chrisvanhollen/post/DIgOkUkhlWf

Copy of the same on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/chrisvanhollen/videos/595278463068754/



https://www.instagram.com/p/DIgOZyUvZm3/

April 16, 2025
chrisvanhollen (Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland)

I’m about to board my flight to El Salvador, where I hope to meet with senior government officials to discuss the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

I also hope to see Kilmar and check on his condition — and remind him that we won’t stop fighting until he’s home.

 

 

.

Edited April 16Apr 16 by janea4old

Essay/article about how all of the arrests/kidnappings/bans/defunding of protesters and universities ... is about authoritarian control, pretending to be about antisemitism.
The would-be king and his cronies are stating that the people protesting about Palestine must be antisemites, when most are not.  (some are, but most are not). Many people of Jewish faith support reasonable Palestinian rights, as they support all human rights. 
The US government is just using that as an excuse to round up people and send them to gulags.

The essay explains it better than I can
https://www.thehandbasket.co/p/it-was-never-about-antisemitism

The author Marisa Kabas is an independent journalist whom I follow on bluesky.  She is a good source of breaking news.
https://bsky.app/profile/marisakabas.bsky.social

Her newsletter is
thehandbasket.co
".co", not .com
Her site thehandbasket.co starts with "the".
(just plain handbasket.co without "the" is a creepy unrelated site)
 

https://bsky.app/profile/vanhollen.senate.gov/post/3lmzlf4pw6k2n

We were just denied entry into CECOT — the notorious prison in El Salvador where Mr. Abrego Garcia is being illegally held. We were there for one simple reason: to check on his well-being, which his family and lawyers have not been allowed to do. We won’t stop fighting.

[image or embed]

— Senator Chris Van Hollen (@vanhollen.senate.gov) April 17, 2025 at 10:00 AM

 

-----------------------

UPDATE !!!!

https://bsky.app/profile/vanhollen.senate.gov/post/3ln2gcpf6js2m

I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar. Tonight I had that chance. I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return.

[image or embed]

— Senator Chris Van Hollen (@vanhollen.senate.gov) April 17, 2025 at 6:02 PM

 

 

Trump tried to disappear a U.S. citizen

[image or embed]

— Jason Linkins (@dceiver.bsky.social) April 17, 2025 at 5:06 PM

 

https://bsky.app/profile/llanosjackie.bsky.social/post/3ln2hlfjgd22x

Read the details of his release here! floridaphoenix.com/2025/04/17/u...

[image or embed]

— Jackie Llanos (@llanosjackie.bsky.social) April 17, 2025 at 6:24 PM

 

 

 

https://floridaphoenix.com/2025/04/17/u-s-citizen-released-from-jail-after-arrest-under-floridas-new-anti-immigration-law/

 

Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez is a U.S. citizen, born and raised in the USA.  He lives in Georgia and works across the state line in Florida.  Was entering Florida from Georgia -- as a passenger in a car -- on his way to work.  They got stopped because the driver was speeding.  Then the cops arrested everyone.  They claimed that Mr. Lopez-Garcia was an illegal immigrant, even though he showed the cops his Georgia state ID and his social security card.  He spent 24 hours under arrest at the jail.  The judge ordered his release after examining his birth certificate and social security card.

Edited April 18Apr 18 by janea4old

cannot make this up. and she gets secret service protection!

free link. 

kristi noem purse stolen

Wow.....

No wonder tourism to the US is falling like a stone. Who would want to visit a country that does this to its own citizens?

19 minutes ago, I Am A Swede said:

Who would want to visit a country that does this to its own citizens?

It's happening all over.  U.S. citizens being arrested and jailed for existing.  Citizens showing their documentation and the police pretending no documents were shown.   If you don't know how to get an immediate hearing in front of a judge, you get deported/disappeared from your own country.

It's recommended that you have a lawyer to call, family to call, and to know what courthouse will hear your case.   Make sure your family and attorney have legal certified copies of your birth certificate, passport, citizenship, social security card, drivers license, etc. -- readily available to bring to any courthouse in case you are arrested.

Part of the issue is that some who are randomly rounded up like this... don't know what procedure to follow, and to request a hearing.  If you don't demand a hearing and obtain the hearing, they try to deport you without a hearing.  None of this is legal but this is what is happening.

Edited April 22Apr 22 by janea4old