“When the Social Security Administration recently reclassified more than 6,000 living and breathing immigrants as dead in order to deny them the Social Security numbers and benefits they legally held, I empathized with those migrants. I’m not an immigrant, and I don’t receive Social Security benefits. Yet my family, like millions of other Americans, has felt the pain and helplessness of losing access to services and benefits through no fault of our own. The technique of declaring thousands of people ‘dead’ with one stroke of the pen is particularly cruel and epitomizes the long-standing dehumanization of immigrants in this country. But it would be short-sighted to view this as an immigration issue. In fact, this move reveals both our common vulnerability to the whims of high-up decision-makers, and our shared humanity.” [editor’s note: The delusions continue that proven fraud is just a myth – SAT] [additional editor’s note: Yes, indeed, some delusions do continue – TLK] (04/17/25)
“It’s almost 4 a.m. Thunder crashes. A few rows away, one man hugs a bottle of hot water in a sock for warmth. His prayer mat serves as a blanket, and his head rests on his shoes. A detainee who was praying all night finally lies down. He was caught crossing the border with his pregnant wife and has never seen his baby, now 9 months old. I try to convince myself that this will not be my fate, though Friday’s ruling makes that possibility more real than I want to admit. I write this letter as the sun rises, hoping that the suspension of my rights will raise alarm bells that yours are already in jeopardy. I hope it will inspire your outrage that the most basic human instinct, to protest shameless massacre, is being repressed by obscure laws, racist propaganda and a state terrified of an awakened public.” (04/17/25)
Source: The Intercept
by Meghnad Bose & Sacha Biazzo
“Students at Columbia University’s Middle Eastern studies department were suffering from whiplash. Over two days in March, they went from being reassured by Middle Eastern studies faculty that the university was supporting their embattled department to, just a day later, being hit with news that Columbia had cut a deal with the Trump administration. At stake was some $400 million in federal funding from the school that had been suspended by the White House. The Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies Department — or MESAAS as it is formally known — was at the center of the storm. Pushing back on the White House’s demands proved too tall an order at Columbia.” (04/16/25)
“The first months of 2025 have seen a noticeable rise in reports of ‘reverse migration,’ as some migrants abandon their northbound journey to the U.S.-Mexico border and instead begin moving southwards. This emerging trend presents new challenges for transit countries accustomed to managing and deterring northbound migration — such as determining how best to assist these migrants in returning to their countries of origin or expanding humanitarian programs for those unable to do so safely. Compounding these challenges is a critical data gap.” (04/16/25)
“Now that Judge Boasberg has established probable cause, he will continue with contempt proceedings against the Trump administration. This means he will refer this case to a prosecutor, likely the US Attorney for the District of Columbia, who will decide whether to prosecute or decline. If the prosecutor decides not to go through with the proceedings, Boasberg can appoint a special prosecutor to pursue a conviction. If the prosecution is successful, the court can impose sanctions, fines, or even imprisonment – although it isn’t likely to happen in this scenario. But who would be targeted under this effort?” (04/16/25)
“One of the leading U.S. experts on fascism is so unsettled by the political climate under President Donald Trump that he’s packing up and leaving the country. Jason Stanley, a philosophy professor at Yale University and the author of books including How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them, has accepted a position at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy that will begin in the fall. Stanley is not the only prominent Yale professor leaving the Ivy League university amid Trump 2.0. … In a wide-ranging interview with Foreign Policy, Stanley, who has raised alarm bells about Trump’s authoritarian tendencies for years and unequivocally calls the president a fascist, discussed his reasons for leaving the United States and Trump’s controversial Monday meeting with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele — who styles himself the ‘world’s coolest dictator’ — among other topics.” (04/16/25)
“Musk and his minions are perverting neutral law enforcement whose job is to protect, not violate, the rights and property of organizations.” (04/16/25)
“I first ran into a little-known New York City councilwoman named Letitia James in the aughts at a Brooklyn news conference about rapper Foxy Brown. It seems Foxy had been busted, again, over some bad behavior. And among the people who came out to defend her was James, whose real agenda had nothing to do with hip-hop or crime. It was all about making a name for herself. And she did. For all the wrong reasons. James, whom I’d never met or even heard of, made a beeline for me at the event and started haranguing me — but not about the troubled recording artist. She was furious about my columns supporting the still-unbuilt Barclays Center, which I believed would revitalize a decrepit swath of Brooklyn and bring high-profile entertainment and jobs to a place where they were desperately needed.” (04/17/25)
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Angel Eduardo
“They say that where Harvard goes, others follow. For the first time in a while, supporters of free expression on American campuses should hope that’s true.” (04/16/25)
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by Edith Wright
“Bernie Sanders’[s] nativist tendencies are in the news again. When asked in a recent interview if Trump had done anything right so far, he praised how the new administration — not to say dictatorship — has handled border policy. Repeating an electorally salient lie that helped put us in this mess, Bernie is apparently quite pleased to see Trump and his cronies cracking down on the flood of fentanyl supposedly crossing the US-Mexico border every day. Not quite content with the government screwing innocent, hardworking drug importers and their customers, he went on to express opposition to ‘illegal immigration.’ … It’s pretty interesting that someone who is perhaps the most iconic alleged lefty in contemporary American politics is also broadly supportive of these far-right policies. It also isn’t remotely surprising.” (04/16/25)
