Happy Friday! I should be taking a nap after getting up early the past 2 mornings to take the missus to her cataract surgery #2 and the post op this morning. Everything is good, other than the pouring down rain. The traffic this morning going up the mountain was steady car after car. Spring Break and great snow on the mountain for skiers and snowboarders. Police from several different agencies had a traffic mission going on between Sandy and Gresham with cars pulled over every ¼ mile. I’m glad to see it at the beginning of the Break, as there are so many idiots heading up the mountain speeding, cutting in and out of traffic, and road raging. Several of the cop cars were unmarked everyday looking vehicles, but with lots of hidden blue lights. Yahoo!
I’ve read several interesting articles the past couple of days focused on the constitutional crisis that is upon us or may be right around the corner as our president tries to parlay his presidential role to one of a dictator. The most disturbing warning I took away from my reading was from an article titled “Is American Democracy Doomed?” by Brian Klaas, a political scientist and professor at University College London. https://substack.com/home/post/p-158444265 In the article he cites the “Polity IV” index, which measures levels of democracy and authoritarianism in every country. The disturbing thing is that the index has re-classified the United States as a non-democracy. The official notice reads: “The USA is no longer considered a democracy and lies at the cusp of autocracy.” Dr. Klaas also refers to an article by Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way where they argue that “democracy is in greater peril today than at any time in modern US history”; that “the country’s vaunted constitutional checks are failing”; and “US democracy will likely break down during the second Trump administration.” https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/path-american-authoritarianism-trump We are experiencing daily these threats to democracy as DJT and his lackeys are gathering up immigrants, college students, college professors, and, yes, alleged Venezuelan gang members and either deporting them or sending them to a hellish prison in El Salvador; ignoring the rulings of federal judges; calling for the impeachment of judges who rule against the illegalities committed by this administration; intimidating and trying to silence selected media; threatening to prosecute his critics; and putting strictly loyalists and unelected directors (Elon) into key positions in order to push forward his agenda. I’m an old guy, but throughout my life I have read and seen in the news similar actions taken by authoritarian governments and thought, “Thank God I live in America.” My, how times change.
Above, I wrote ‘alleged Venezuelan gang members’ who have been deported and sent to an El Salvador prison. I write alleged because, so far, there has been no due process for those arrested and sent to the prison, which is exactly the reason Judge Boasberg put a temporary order in place to hold these prisoners. They were already in custody by ICE, so they were not a threat to citizens of the US while in custody. We are now learning that there is weak to nonexistent evidence that some of these “terrorists” are in fact members of the Tren de Aragua gang. One of the deportees was a Venezuelan professional soccer player who had fled Venezuela after protesting against dictator Nicola Madura and was living peacefully in the U.S. until he was snatched up by ICE and deported to El Salvador. Why was he seen as a member of that gang? Because he had a tattoo of a crown sitting atop a soccer ball, which ICE alleges is proof of gang membership. In reality the tattoo was inspired by the Real Madrid soccer team, which is also circular in shape and features a crown. There are many more examples of this common theme of the misinterpretation of tattoos as the “evidence” that these are gang members leading to deportation. The irony of this is that many of these people came to the United States to flee from the Tren de Aragua gang only to be accused of being members of that gang. You just have to wonder how much education and training these ICE agents and their superiors have to be making these life-changing, misinterpretive decisions some of these deportees have experienced.
In the last couple of posts I wrote about the pissing match going on between the judge and administration related to the plane flights to El Salvador in violation of the judge’s order and the hearings subsequent to that order. In a hearing this morning, Judge Boagsberg, the judge who temporarily blocked the deportations to El Salvador, said government lawyers had been “intermperate and disrespectful” in court filings and told the Deputy Assistant Attorney General that he could not recall ever having heard government lawyers address him in the way the government had in its filings. Oh boy, it would appear to me that Judge B is really pissed. Once again, keep your eyes on this one.
Have a great weekend and get ready for that 76 degree weather next week. The Blazers are going for four in a row tonight. Go Blazers!! Ziggyman
Controlled “facts” and misinformation are the principal tools of autocratic authority.
Mountain Man Musings 