politics

Summary

Donald Trump threatened to send American citizens convicted of vandalizing Tesla vehicles to El Salvador’s infamous Terrorism Confinement Center, labeling the vandals as "sick terrorist thugs" deserving 20-year sentences.

This statement followed a major vandalism incident in Ontario, Canada, where around 80 Tesla cars were damaged.

Trump’s comments coincide with controversy over his use of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport migrants, halted by a court order.

The White House defended the deportation despite legal challenges, denying any violation of the court’s injunction.

Summary

Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez condemned Donald Trump and Elon Musk at a packed Arizona rally, accusing them of harming working-class Americans and promoting oligarchy.

Sanders denounced corporate CEOs as “major criminals” exploiting workers, while Ocasio-Cortez called for stronger Democratic leadership.

Rallygoers urged Ocasio-Cortez to challenge Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer after he supported a Republican funding bill.

The rally, part of Sanders' “Stop Oligarchy” tour, follows criticism of the Democratic Party’s weak response to Trump’s agenda and features further events in Colorado and Arizona.

Tracking the foreign nationals detained by ICE as tourists or U.S. residents

U.S. tourists and permanent residents from around the world have been arrested, detained and deported under the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.

Why it matters: The recent high-profile detentions and deportations demonstrate an escalation in tactics from immigration officials, accused of targeting some for their political stances or involvement.

Summary

MAGA influencer "Raw Ricci" Wynne, known for filming homeless people in San Francisco and appearing on Fox News, has been indicted on federal charges of producing child sex abuse material.

The 39-year-old, who has over 100,000 Instagram followers, was already under investigation when arrested in November for pimping and pandering charges.

Tuesday's federal indictment accuses him of producing child pornography with two different minors in 2022.

If convicted, Wynne faces up to 30 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Bernie Sanders says it over and over again: 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. Centrist critics swear this is false. Once we sort through the noise, we see Bernie is right on the money.

Summary:

Donald Trump’s interim Social Security chief suggested Thursday night he will effectively turn off the agency that manages the essential safety net program for seniors and the disabled, if Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) can’t access the non-anonymized sensitive personal information and data of hundreds of millions of Americans, based on a judge’s order.

“My anti-fraud team would be DOGE affiliates. My IT staff would be DOGE affiliates,” said Lee Dudek, acting Social Security Administration (SSA) commissioner, arguing the order was too broad, according to Bloomberg News. “As it stands, I will follow it exactly and terminate access by all SSA employees to our IT systems,” he said, adding: “Really, I want to turn it off and let the courts figure out how they want to run a federal agency.”

Dudek’s threat to block SSA employees from using the agency’s IT systems — a move that could halt Social Security payments — came in response to a judge’s temporary restraining order in a case brought by the AFL-CIO labor union. The order bars Social Security Administration officials from allowing DOGE, including Musk, and the SSA’s DOGE team to access personally identifiable information. It also directs Musk and DOGE to delete from their possession all non-anonymized personal data, and bars them from having access to SSA computers or code.

Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander wrote that the SSA had likely violated administrative and privacy laws when it gave DOGE “unbridled access to the personal and private data of millions of Americans, including but not limited to Social Security numbers, medical records, mental health records, hospitalization records, drivers’ license numbers, bank and credit card information, tax information, income history, work history, birth and marriage certificates, and home and work addresses.”

She added that the “defendants, with so-called experts on the DOGE Team, never identified or articulated even a single reason for which the DOGE Team needs unlimited access to SSA’s entire record systems, thereby exposing personal, confidential, sensitive, and private information that millions of Americans entrusted to their government.”

Good exploration of Nazi Musk’s obsession with 420, also Hitler’s birthday and the fact that it is 90 days after Trump’s inauguration and an EO that gets them to advance to the next step.

Warning: this is for hypothetical discussion, this is not a fact (yet).

Democratic lawmakers have faced eruptions of anger at town hall meetings across the country this week, as constituents have coupled their fury over President Donald Trump’s actions with deep frustration over what they see as a feckless Democratic response.

Summary

Elon Musk's political influence continues to expand beyond his $261 million in 2024 election spending and role in Trump's administration.

While serving as de facto leader of DOGE, Musk's America PAC is now the top outside spender in Wisconsin's Supreme Court race ($6.6 million) and he's making strategic donations to Trump-loyal congresspeople.

With Democrats increasingly using Musk as a "boogeyman" in campaigns (51% of voters view him negatively), his unlimited wealth and controversial persona position him as an unprecedented political force for both parties.

“We need clean air, not another billionaire!”

Musk was never going to save the planet – and neither will any other billionaire. While Musk encourages Americans to buy Teslas, he jets around the world on a private plane. He has claimed climate change alarm is “exaggerated.” He partnered with a coal mining billionaire to elect Trump, and is now working with the latter to gut federal environmental regulations.

Like other billionaires, Musk’s fortune has come at the expense of everyday people, from abusing his employees to calling his opponents criminals. His billions could fund public transportation, housing, healthcare, and education. Instead, he’s taking a chainsaw to all of the government departments which provide those essential services.

Rule #1: Never Admit You’re Violating a Court Order

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Rule #2: Accidents Happen and Can Be Great Excuses for Violating Court Orders

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Rule #3: You Get to Interpret the Order

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Rule #4: Always Appeal

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Rule #5: Go After the Judge

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Rule #6: Keep Your Lawyers Barefoot and Ignorant

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Rule #7: Always Make Sure They’re Relieved You Didn’t Do Worse

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250321111121/https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-situation--how-to-get-away-with-violating-court-orders

Ahead of U.S. Supreme Court arguments next week, a watchdog group asserted Wednesday that right-wing Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas must recuse themselves from a case "whose outcome could have sweeping consequences," citing "significant conflicts of interest" due to their relationships with "conservative kingpin Leonard Leo."

If anyone needs a list for protest action, it's super cool for the White House to put it all in one place.