politics

Summary

A federal judge criticized a Trump administration Justice Department lawyer who claimed they didn't have to follow the judge's oral order blocking deportations to El Salvador because it wasn't in writing.

Judge Boasberg questioned why the administration ignored his directive to return immigrants to the US. The DOJ lawyer repeatedly refused to provide information about the deportations, citing "national security concerns."

Frustrated, Boasberg ordered sworn declarations explaining what happened, quipping that he would issue a written order "since apparently my verbal orders don't seem to carry much weight."

The only people it's worth it for are the connected billionaires who can scoop up assets cheap while the rest of us end up as serfs.

Summary

Trump adviser Stephen Miller erupted on Fox News after MSNBC analyst Andrew Weissmann criticized Trump's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act to deport migrants as possibly unconstitutional.

Miller called Weissmann "an absolute moron," "a fool," and "a degenerate," claiming he "shills for people who rape and murder Americans."

When host Martha MacCallum noted both could express opinions, Miller shouted that he'd "defend American lives" while Weissmann "can defend illegal alien rapists, terrorists and predators."

This continues Miller's pattern of televised outbursts, including previous incidents on CNN and reactions to SNL jokes about Trump.

A big executive order from Little, Fat fascist that undermines the legal system even more that I didn't know about.

Summary

Elon Musk’s DOGE forcibly took over the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) after staff resisted Trump’s executive order to gut the independent agency.

Capitol police removed employees following a standoff, despite legal arguments that Trump cannot unilaterally fire board members.

The FBI and U.S. Attorney’s office pressured USIP to comply, threatening a criminal investigation.

The White House insists the takeover was lawful, but critics call it an illegal power grab. The move mirrors a similar DOGE-led standoff at the U.S. African Development Foundation.

Summary

China's state media praised Trump's decision to cut funding for Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA), calling them "propaganda" outlets.

The move put 1,300 VOA staff on leave and drew criticism from press freedom advocates, who warn it benefits authoritarian regimes.

VOA and RFA have long reported on human rights abuses in China, North Korea, and other restricted regions.

RFA's CEO condemned the cuts as a "reward to dictators," while the Czech Republic has asked the EU for support to keep Radio Free Europe running.

President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio portrayed the arrest as a defense of Jewish people, condemning the antisemitism of the Columbia protests. “The United States has zero tolerance for foreign visitors who support terrorists,” Rubio posted on X. The official White House account was more blunt: “SHALOM, MAHMOUD,” it posted.

But Rubio’s legal pretense for holding Khalil relies on a provision from an obscure law written by an antisemite that targeted Jewish immigrants — including Holocaust survivors.

The McCarran-Walter Act of 1952, known formally as the Immigration Nationality Act of 1952, empowers the secretary of state to expel foreign nationals who pose a threat to the United States. While the government has not yet explained to a judge precisely why Khalil meets that qualification, the president’s spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, said that Khalil had “organized group protests that not only disrupted college campus classes and harassed Jewish American students and made them feel unsafe on their own college campus, but also distributed pro-Hamas propaganda fliers with the logo of Hamas.” Leavitt claimed to be in possession of such fliers but said she “didn’t think it was worth the dignity” of sharing them with reporters and has not provided further evidence.

“This is the first arrest of many to come,” Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social.

All Americans should be concerned about that. But American Jews should be deeply alarmed.

The McCarran-Walter Act was designed primarily to detain, deport and otherwise bar entry visas to communists. But while it did not mention Jews specifically, its practical function barred the immigration of many European Jews from entering the United States. Its author, Pat McCarran, a conservative Democrat from Nevada, was a dogged antisemite who likely intended the legislation to keep the United States safe not just from communists, but from Jews.

Archived at https://archive.is/urTwH

Summary

An internal Social Security Administration memo from March 13 reveals plans to require internet identity verification for phone benefit claims, forcing those unable to use online systems to visit physical offices.

The memo, authored by acting Deputy Commissioner Doris Diaz, estimates 75,000-85,000 people would need in-person visits despite month-long wait times and office closures.

This change would severely impact the 40% of beneficiaries who rely on phone service.

Meanwhile, the agency is cutting 7,000 employees (12% of staff) and closing offices. The memo acknowledges these changes will cause "service disruption," "operational strain," and "budget shortfalls."

Summary

Trump's administration is escalating confrontations with federal judges, most recently by ignoring a judge's order to halt Venezuelan deportations.

The White House claims Judge Boasberg lacked authority, with border czar Tom Homan stating, "I don't care what the judges think."

This is part of a pattern where the administration has defied court orders on funding freezes and immigration policies.

Trump allies have called for impeaching judges who rule against him. Legal experts warn this threatens constitutional checks and balances, with one professor stating: "If the executive can defy court orders whenever they feel like it, they are essentially not constrained by the Constitution."

JD Vance is no longer just a politician – he has become a meme. His face, digitally warped and endlessly repurposed, has become a viral canvas for both critics and supporters. In an era where politics is experienced through pixels rather than policies, Vance has entered the same strange digital purgatory occupied by figures like Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris before him. But there’s something different this time. Unlike the predictable partisan divisions that shaped previous political meme wars, Vance’s memefication is more fluid, more contradictory, and ultimately more revealing about the current state of political culture.

Aishvarya Kavi

Lin said that the U.S. Institute for Peace called the D.C. police on the Musk team members in an effort to stop them from trespassing because the institute has control of its own building and the land it sits on. But instead, the D.C. police allowed them to enter and kicked out the institute’s officials.

Before the D.C. police arrived, the Musk team had tried for hours to enter the building. They attempted to enter on Friday, but that effort was unsuccessful.

Dear /c/Politics moderators: I am only posting this in the body because the direct link doesn't actually work as a direct link and just takes you to the top of the updates thread and you have to dig to find this two paragraph snippet. Please understand why I did this. I know the rule is not to do this but I hope you can make an exception in this case.

Anyone else remember the evidence that a lot of the DC police were just letting January 6th rioters onto the capitol grounds and that it was roundly dismissed by our useless fucking media as a conspiracy theory?

https://abcnews.go.com/US/defense-dozens-capitol-rioters-law-enforcement-us-building/story?id=75976466

https://web.archive.org/web/20210107091319/https://preview.redd.it/5su8wm36ts961.gif?format=mp4&s=e21b9715da046e7734bac9e3c2cac33e53b43a25

Pepperidge Farm Remembers. Even if Reddit deleted the fucking video.

Law enforcement was never on our side.

The site also has information on Tesla dealerships and members of DOGE. “At DOGEQUEST, we believe in empowering creative expressions of protest that you can execute from the comfort of your own home.

In response to a court order, the Federal Aviation Administration has reinstated 132 employees it had fired in February...

If any planes were already in the air, the judge said, they should turn back.

That did not happen. Instead, the Trump administration sent more than 200 migrants to El Salvador over the weekend, including alleged gang members, on three planes.

A New York Times review of the flight data showed that none of the planes in question landed in El Salvador before the judge’s order, and that one of them did not even leave American soil until after the judge’s written order was posted online.