“These Republicans cannot know a moment of peace. They have to understand that we will fight their cruelty with every megaphone and microphone that we have. We must castigate them on the soap box, and then punish them at the ballot box. They must feel in their bones that when we survive this shameful episode of American history with our democracy intact—because we have no alternative but to do just that—that we will relegate their portraits to the museum halls reserved for tyrants and traitors.”
“Cowardice can be contagious,” Pritzker said, “But so too can courage…. Just as the hope that we hold onto in the darkness, shines with its own...special light.
“Tonight, I’m telling you what I’m willing to do...is fight—for our democracy, for our liberty, for the opportunity for all our people to live lives that are meaningful and free. And I see around me tonight a roomful of people who are ready to do the same.”
“So I have one question for all of you,” Pritzker said. “Are you ready for the fight?”
Sure. There is a lightness and unreality about our very real existence. It's an odd thing, no doubt. And sort of unbearable if you really think about it.
And then there is "absurdism," - the philosophical idea that "the universe is irrational and meaningless." Yikes. That concept holds the blunt edge of truth, like a shining sword over our heads, no doubt.
Absurdity is often our experience of being Human.
Hang around for awhile on the planet, and may find yourself thinking that "Life is what you make of it." It is up to us to find a purpose and meaning. And we are such limited vehicles, bound by our senses five, with a brain that that we think is amazing, but of course, is quite limited.
From that odd organ, consciousness arises or descends upon us. A strange, gnarly, wonderous, and confounding gift. A blessing & a curse. We are stuck with being conscious of our limited, fallible nature. Stuck in a life bounded by death, loss, suffering. And we wonder "why?"
It's kind of a lonely train of thought, being stuck in a being, that is maybe not quite up to the task of understanding pretty much anything, and, you know, struggling with the task of facing up to the reality of things.
Some folks turn to religion or cults, or mad obsessions, whatever, and then, try to find meaning & purpose in those mad-mind excursions.
Humans invent Gods, and powerful commanding forces beyond our human realm. Which is all well and good, there are powerful forces in the Universe beyond the Human realm. Just take a quick look at Physics, for instance, but, you know, day to day, we are just left to our own devices. The unbearable lightness & absurdity of being Human.
Ha. You know, the joke really is on us. It's super-funny, and not funny at all.
Conservative Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, wrote the order. Notably, it began with a compliment to Judge Xinis. “[W]e shall not micromanage the efforts of a fine district judge attempting to implement the Supreme Court’s recent decision,” he wrote.
Then Wilkinson turned his focus on the Trump administration. “It is difficult in some cases to get to the very heart of the matter,” he wrote. “But in this case, it is not hard at all. The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order. Further, it claims in essence that because it has rid itself of custody that there is nothing that can be done. This should be shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear.”
“The government asserts that Abrego Garcia is a terrorist and a member of MS-13. Perhaps, but perhaps not. Regardless, he is still entitled to due process.” The court noted that if the government is so sure of its position, then it should be confident in presenting its facts to a court of law.
Echoing the liberal justices on the Supreme Court, Wilkinson wrote: “If today the Executive claims the right to deport without due process and in disregard of court orders, what assurance will there be tomorrow that it will not deport American citizens and then disclaim responsibility to bring them home?” He noted the reports that the administration is talking about doing just that.
“And what assurance shall there be that the Executive will not train its broad discretionary powers upon its political enemies? The threat, even if not the actuality, would always be present,” he wrote, “and the Executive’s obligation to ‘take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed’ would lose its meaning.”
What happens next?! Kilmar must be returned!
Crimes against Humanity. To kidnap an innocent man, to ship him off to a foreign Gulag without due process, is a disgrace and a crime. There is a Court in the Hague that hears these kinds of cases. Of course, this current President should be immediately impeached, and then hauled into court himself to face up to his lawless, Unconstitutional actions. Others in that room too should stand before a judge and be held account for their actions.
Will this happen any time soon? Probably not. The Republicans in the Senate and House are sitting on their hands, letting this, and many other atrocities roll out. So un-American. So inhumane. So wrong.
We expect, and deserve, so much better from our country and our "leaders." All of us. If this kind of atrocity can happen to one innocent Human Being, we are all under dire threat too. Today the Judge gets to weigh in on the case once again. There is a Democracy & a Constitution hanging in the balance on her next moves.
"Bullies are weak
The story of the tariffs so far — at least as other countries will see it — is that Trump announced extreme policies, insisted that he would persist with those policies no matter what, then beat an ignominious retreat. In other words, Trump is a typical bully, full of swagger and tough talk, who runs away at the first sign of adversity.
On tariffs, Trump’s cowardice and weakness may be a good thing. But what about everything else?" - Paul Krugman
He did it. He really fucking did it (see previous post). How stupid can Stupid be? $3.1 Trillion smackers stupid. That's pretty stupid. There is no good reason to crash the global economy, unless you are super-stupid, or you hate the USA and everyone else in the world too.
Hell, Economics and Math, turns out they are hard for Mr. MAGA-Stupid. Maybe get a 5 year old kid to explain why this all is batshit stupid:
There’s a fundamental problem with Donald Trump’s new trade policy: it fails a test that actual 5th graders can pass. I know this because I tried explaining his “Liberation Day” trade plan to one last night. Here’s how that conversation went:
“Imagine you want to buy a toy at a store which costs $50. You pay for the toy and walk away with it. The President looks at that transaction and says ‘wait, you paid the store $50 and the store paid you nothing, therefore the store is stealing from you. To “fix” this, I’m going to tax the store $25. From now on that same toy costs $75.”
The 5th grader looked at me like I was crazy. “Whaaaaaaat? None of that makes sense. If I pay for something, it’s not stealing. And taxing the store seems stupid, and then everything is more expensive. Why would anyone do that? That can’t be how it works.”
