Andrew Geller

The rise of Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump’s hardline immigration policy With time, events in Los Angeles of the past week may come to be seen as the anti-immigrant zealot’s ultimate revenge

“The demagoguery of immigration has long been at the centre of...Trump’s political rise, and...Miller’s desire to make America whiter..., married with the power of the presidency without guardrails, is incredibly dangerous and should concern every American who believes in the rule of law.”

‘Uncharted Territory’: Political World Shocked By Footage of Federal Agents ‘Assaulting’ Senator The chaotic scene of federal agents forcibly taking a sitting U.S. senator to the ground Thursday sent shockwaves throughout the political world.

The takedown of Senator Alex Padilla.

“The Intern in Charge”: Meet the 22-Year-Old Trump’s Team Picked to Lead Terrorism Prevention One year out of college and with no apparent national security expertise, Thomas Fugate is the Department of Homeland Security official tasked with overseeing the government’s main hub for combating v...

He wasn't even alive when the 9-11 attacks happened, but apparently has some leadership experience. Where you wonder?
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"According to LinkedIn, the bulk of Fugate’s leadership experience comes from having served as secretary general of a Model United Nations club."

A Complete List of Everything in the Republican Bill, and How Much It Would Cost or Save In hundreds of provisions across taxes, spending and more, the G.O.P. megabill would preserve lower tax rates for most Americans, increase federal debt by nearly $3 trillion and make large cuts to Med...

Details of the president's nightmare bill.

Go to congress.org to contact your Senator and have them procedurally delay this sucker, and ultimately vote against it.

This bill is solely for the benefit of the wealthiest.

Trump Taps Palantir to Compile Data on Americans

How? Because Palantir has been involved in some super shady activities.
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"...Trump’s executive order... said he wanted to “eliminate information silos and streamline data collection across all agencies to increase government efficiency and save hard-earned taxpayer dollars.”"

White House insists Medicaid policy won’t cut people who deserve it Trump aides say those cut from Medicaid as a result of the GOP megabill shouldn't have had it in the first place.

Their phrasing is key here - they don't believe ANYONE deserves Medicaid.

France to ban smoking outdoors in most places: minister France will ban smoking in all outdoor places that can be frequented by children, like beaches, parks and bus stops, the health and family minister said in an interview published on Thursday.

"Cafe terraces will be excluded from the ban..." because France.

Still good on them for this move that should start a trend.

#nosmoking #outside #France #woohoo

US court blocks Trump from imposing the bulk of his tariffs | CNN Business A three-judge panel at the US Court of International Trade, a relatively low-profile court in Manhattan, ruled Wednesday to halt Trump’s global tariffs that he imposed citing emergency economic powers...

buh bye

This guy's had a serious losing streak in the courts recently. Hopefully it's just a prelude. Too bad the damages can't be reversed in many cases.

Not even five months in, and U.S. presidential corruption reaches new lows; only 1,332 more days to go.

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

#US #president #corruption

Climate and weather scientists are joining the anti-Trump resistance in the most ‘scientist-iest’ way In the face of steep funding cuts for climate and weather research and forecasting, scientists have found a new way of engaging the public.

Watch science happen - LIVE!

#climate #weather #scientists #resistance

OpenAI software ignores explicit instruction to switch off ChatGPT maker’s ‘most capable’ model sabotages shutdown mechanism

Media portrayals of this situation place it JUST before everything goes crazy. At least AGI hasn't been reached, but can't we just stop this research already?

Student Loans And Trump's Big Beautiful Bill: Here’s What To Know After House Passes Legislation The bill would overhaul repayment plans and could require borrowers to pay more each month.

If you know anyone who might want federal aid for college (ever), this is worth a read before going deeper. The borrowing limits seem bizarre, and the borrower repayment info is still lacking (but probably will be bad).

Imagine how massive the tax breaks for billionaires must be when cutting $700B from Medicaid, $500B from Medicare, and $300B in food assistance STILL leaves a $4T deficit.

Time to kill this monstrous mistake in the Senate.
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www.senate.gov/senators/sen...

Vance says Roberts is ‘profoundly wrong’ about judiciary’s role to check executive branch | CNN Politics Vice President JD Vance called Chief Justice John Roberts’ comments earlier this month that the judiciary’s role is to check the executive branch a “profoundly wrong sentiment” and said the courts sho...

How crazy embarrassing. First the Homeland Secretary has no clue what 'habeas corpus' is, now the VP shows he doesn't understand how the U.S. government is supposed to work.

No bees is very bad news for growers (and eaters) of:

apples, cranberries, melons, broccoli, blueberries, cherries, almonds, avocados, blackberry, Brazil nut, cabbage, cantaloupe, cashew, celery, peppers, coconut, peach, pear, plum, tomato, turnip, watermelon and more.

www.msn.com/en-us/news/u...

U.S. Debt Is on Pace to Set a Record High, Going All the Way Back to 1790

Wouldn't it make 'America' great if we REDUCED our debt?
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If passed, under a current G.O.P. bill "...U.S. debt would blow past the record even sooner [than 2032] and climb significantly higher in coming decades."
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Trump's working on creating his final bankruptcy.

#US #budget #debt #deception

How redefining just one word could strip the Endangered Species Act’s ability to protect vital habitat The Trump administration’s plan would leave many endangered species at much greater risk.

'Harm' could be defined so that destroying habitat for endangered species would no longer be harmful. Fun, huh?
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"For 50 years, the U.S. ... has interpreted the Endangered Species Act as protecting threatened and endangered species from actions that either...kill them or eliminate their habitat."

Rep. McIver Charged With Assault Over Clash Outside Newark ICE Center

The president's former defense attorney said this, perhaps with a straight face.
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“No one is above the law — politicians or otherwise,” Ms. Habba said in a statement. “It is the job of this office to uphold justice impartially, regardless of who you are. Now we will let the justice system work.”

You know, just like the Constitution says.
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"The conscious effort to slow down enforcement on such a broad scale is something we have never seen in previous administrations,” said Donald Kettl, a professor emeritus at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy.
www.msn.com/en-us/news/u...

Believe It If You Need It - Remembering Phil Lesh - Part 5 And it's just like any other day that's ever been. Today's show concludes my official tribute to the life work of Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh.  Picking up where I left off last month, you can hear...

Saturday at Noon PDT, hear the 5th & final of my #PhilLesh tribute shows.

Click below to listen live, and hear the other 4 shows.

#KBOO #communityradio #GratefulDead #WALSTIB

He sure is lippy for someone recently convicted of 34 felonies.

"Ernst Fraenkel employed a profound dual state model to illustrate the coexistence of the Normative State—rule-based lawfulness—and the Prerogative State—arbitrary lawlessness. Decades later, such coexistence...is still maintained to some extent by authoritarian leaders..."
#authoritarian #democracy

Most Americans don't earn enough to afford basic costs of living, analysis finds The bottom 60% of U.S. households don't make enough money to afford a "minimal quality of life," according to a new analysis.

If this is unfamiliar to you, you're in the minority.
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"Americans are working harder than ever, fueling our economic growth, but the benefits of that hard work are not being distributed in a way that supports upward mobility for too many middle- and low-income Americans."

#deathoftheamericandream

Oklahoma education standards say students must identify 2020 election 'discrepancies' New academic standards in Oklahoma call for the teaching of "discrepancies" in the 2020 election, continuing the spread of a false narrative years after it was first pushed by Trump and his allies.

Identify 2020 presidential election discrepancies? Easy.

There was no fraud that would have affected the outcome. The loser continues to claim it was widespread, without offering any verifiable, documented evidence.

HUGE discrepancy.

#president #Trump #MAGA #election #loser

Habeas corpus: A thousand-year-old legal principle for defending rights that’s getting a workout under the Trump administration Habeas corpus – a Latin phrase meaning ‘you shall have the body’ – protects any person, whether citizen or not, from being illegally confined. It’s a crucial element of US law.

What a law professor thinks you (and Stephen Miller) should know about habeas corpus, an ancient civil right limiting the power of the government to hold prisoners buff.ly/ShY4ajA #habeascorpus #immigration

Trump administration offers refugee status to 49 white South Africans Group, including families and small children, departed for US after Trump order created relocation program

What's different about THESE refugees that the Republican president cares about?

Only one guess allowed.

Trump says he doesn’t know if he needs to uphold constitutional due process President also says he sees himself as leaving office at the end of his current term and not seeking a third one

Yeah, there's A LOT of uncertainty in that Oath you swore to.
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"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

#disqualifier

Why judges blocked the Trump admin's school DEI crackdown On Thursday, three federal judges in Maryland, New Hampshire and Washington, D.C., said Trump's anti-DEI efforts were on shaky legal ground.

The short, short summary?

The Republican administration can't explain itself, or provide any evidence to support its simplistic (clearly false) assertions.

#incompetent #liars #schools #DEI #bullshit

Believe It If You Need It - Remembering Phil Lesh - Part 4 Late last October when Phil Lesh died, he'd led various solo projects and collaborated with mixtures of members of his first band elsewhere, for nearly as long as The Grateful Dead had performed live....

Coming up Saturday on #KBOO, we enter the home stretch of my recurring tribute to #PhilLesh, and start to explore his post #GratefulDead performances.

Persistent weirdness and occasional mayhem will be served. Play it loud, scare the neighbors.