It’s 1920, Republicans feel their government trifecta melting away. They’ve decided forcing a constitutional crisis is the only way to maintain that stronghold. Rural states have identified foreign immigration into urban, Democratic population centers as a top concern. The decennial Census, taken every 10 years since 1790, has tracked the expanding U.S. population, which, at the…
“I never thought I would see the day when masked and armed men in unmarked cars would be roaming the streets and neighborhoods of America, acting in utter disregard of the legal constraints that are basic to our freedoms.
“It’s becoming more and more clear that the stated basis for this gross violation of our rights—that they are ridding our communities of ‘the worst of the worst’—is a lie, and the real purpose is to establish a national police force to do the bidding of a corrupt and lawless administration.”
–Angus King
[quote=“fiftygigs, post:2, topic:260431”] and the real purpose is to establish a national police force to do the bidding of a corrupt and lawless administration.” –Angus King
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I’m comfortable with “militia” for DHS’ armed sections.
Evidence is that they don’t have the authorization for what they do and lack the expertise in police, law, and law enforcement to be identified as “police.”
“we go through this every decade, so everybody, calm down.”
Good advice.
a widely rejected legal argument that the use of the word “persons” in the constitutional enumeration clauses actually refer to “citizens.”
Inalienable rights apply to every human being on earth regardless of where they were born. That’s what Americans believe. Republicans want to parse that.
the three-person EEOC board voted to end collecting race and gender data about U.S. workers
Therefore, the federal government will be the least able seat of government to know what any workers want and need. The authority now for that information will be the locality and the state. And the union.
The possible application of this policy is likely only temporary. No business or government can survive not knowing its population. (One example. When Congress asks how large an army we can raise, the answer will be shrugs.)
Chief Justice John Roberts and his colorblind ideology which has supported law enforcement stops based on race while rejecting decades old civil rights protections based on the same — poses a danger to the “whole persons” population count
The current Supreme Court is justifying the self-defined fantasy of a dead Constitution, insisting it must persist. They and their Republican sponsors reject the Constitution as a living document expressing the truth that all people are endowed by their Creator.
While I joke about it the group I most associate with DHS/ ICE is The Sturmabteilung (lit. ‘Storm Division’ or loosely ‘stormtroopers’), or SA, sometimes referred to as the Brown Shirts.
…Its primary purposes were providing protection for Nazi rallies and assemblies, disrupting the meetings of opposing parties, fighting against the paramilitary units of the opposing parties…and intimidating Romani, trade unionists, and especially Jews…
(The last is especially noteworthy, as you can substitute any marginalized group).
…the conflicts between the SS and SA were based on personal rivalries of leaders…key socio-economic differences…SS members generally came from the middle class, while the SA had its base among the unemployed and working class. Politically speaking, the SA was more radical than the SS…
So if ICE is the SA does that make the FBI the SS? Party boy Patel has already purged or fired a number of agents deemed not sufficiently loyal to the mad Orange King. Does he plan on using a combination of both to disrupt the mid term election?
While we’re at it, why not eliminate voting rights for trans people, or people with IQs below the genius level, or for people with physical impairments, or men with low T numbers, or for history majors? The Elon Musks, Peter Thiels and Marc Andreessens of the world already support going full Nazi in their pursuit of a dystopian-for-the-rest-of-us future.
America was founded with the idea that we would always be monkeying around with the laws. That is one of the virtues of America. Republicans know that and feel empowered to hold up their end of the bargain the founders made. I would ask why are Democrats surprised that Republicans want to change things. Does anyone think that our laws shouldn’t change.
The difference between Democrats and Republicans is simply Democrats believe we are all created equal and we will do best if we look out for one another. Republicans believe that some (them) are more equal than others (the rest of us.) They only have to look out for themselves.
You forgot to mention the GOP considers us their disposable tools. When my parents and grandparents went through a similar time back in the 1920s, it took the country nearly a century to overcome. Likely that will repeat for our kids, grandkids, great grandkids.
I’m going to agree with your category DHS ‘militia’ as thugs, but disagree that that disqualifies them from being a 'militia:
The equation seems to work in many interational settings:
I have to disagree with the conclusion that the GQP is invested i the “individual’s” good.
All of the individual for whose good the GQP works fall into categories that can be identified by shared qualities. They are the party of particular, identifiable classes of people in our society.
They’ve come a lot closer to coming right out and saying it by cleaving to White and Christian nationalism and the very rich, than they would have under Reagan, when pretending to serve some common good was still a more salient part of their propaganda.
An error in this article, perhaps only a typo, but I think something more. (The journalist’s freshness to the history of the census?) It’s not correct to say that any individuals’ names were not recorded in the census before 1860. The name of the head of a household had been named since 1790. Certainly White people’s were, but so were free Black people’s. In 1850, every member of a household was named. (I’m hazy on 1840 – something was up in that year that I haven’t worked out. That was the year a separate slave schedule was introduced.)
It’s not but the idea is Trump and the Republicans want to redress the supposed grivances of white men who feel like their lives were sacrificed by rich white men in power who gave their futures to undeserving black men and women of all races.
That is the source of MAGA’s DEI hatred. Notice that the rich white men who gave their futures away never gave up a thing. Their kids were the sons of Harvard graduates so they got legacy admissions. Somehow their kids got great jobs. The ones who got a leg up were blacks and women not the enterprising white boys who were jumped by the kids of the white people setting on admission boards.
Trump and his ilk are placating their followers who feel oppressed by America’s efforts to promote black men and women of all races. In their minds they were denied by every black man or woman who got an opportunity. It took me a long time not to feel that way myself but I realized that my feeling of having been wronged by others was my problem. I got all the opportunity I needed, so did most of the other young white men I knew. So I don’t hate MAGA for opposing DEI, I just hate the fat cats like Trump who promoted and took advantage of those feelings.
“America’s hunters and anglers now have something significant to look forward to in the fall as we plan to open and expand hunting and fishing opportunities nationwide,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in the press release. “We are also promoting good government by reducing the regulatory burden and working with states to facilitate these outdoor activities.”
Bird populations in the US only began to be tracked systematically in the 1970s. As of 2019, then we had lost about 3 million breeding pairs, over a quarter of the US bird population. Some bird species have gone extinct. Of course, for Burgum, birds are basically a nuisance to the oil&gas industry. Thank god for president Trump! Birds are lucky. In the same period, over 80% of California’s native inland fish species are gone extinct or listed as endangered or vulnerable due to the combined pressures of rising population, climate change and invasive non-native species (some even stocked). The Sierra Nevada biome is only a pale wisp of what inspired John Muir or even later writers like Gary Snyder or Stanley Kim Robinson. Somewhat ironically, one of the endangered mammal species is the seldom-seen fishers. Burgum and Rollins will keep pulling such stunts right through the mid-terms and possibly longer. Eventually there will be nothing left to kill in the American wasteland, but given the rapacious, short-sighted and extractive nature of our government, it is unlikely any of them will notice.
“Individual good” I think it depends on who the individual is. Wealthy white individuals…yeah. Middle and low economic class…nah. No matter what color the middle and low economic class is they won’t be protected if it means the wealthy ones might not get every dollar they want. That’s why health care isn’t a priority in this country, nor is education.