Why Republicans Keep Trying to Murder Big Bird

 The bird, the myth, the legend.

From Nixon to Trump, Warbler of Kindness has been despised by GOP for decades

 

By Oliver Willis 

Daily Kos Staff

Saturday, March 29, 2025 at 5:00:13p MDT

  

REPUBLISHED BY: 

Blue Country Gazette Blog 

Rim Country Gazette Blog

Congressional Republicans held a hearing on Wednesday to direct their ire at a familiar target: public broadcasting. Led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, the Delivering on Government Efficiency Committee questioned the heads of NPR and PBS, lobbing complaints of purported political bias and using “taxpayer funds to push some of the most radical left positions.”

A day later, President Donald Trump chimed in with a post on his Truth Social platform, writing, “NPR and PBS, two horrible and completely biased platforms (Networks!), should be DEFUNDED by Congress, IMMEDIATELY. Republicans, don’t miss this opportunity to rid our Country of this giant SCAM, both being arms of the Radical Left Democrat Party. JUST SAY NO AND, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”

Attacking NPR and PBS, home to “Sesame Street,” is not new ground for the right. It’s not even MAGA-specific. In fact, the war on public broadcasting goes back decades and has been passed down from Republican to Republican.

The headquarters for NPR in Washington, D.C.

PBS and NPR are funded in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a nonprofit funded by taxpayers. Programming on the networks is also funded by underwriters, which are sometimes private corporations but also individuals, other nonprofits, or trusts.

Back in the 1970s, President Richard Nixon opposed funding PBS and even vetoed congressional legislation that included money to keep the network going. Coincidentally, PBS led the way in airing uninterrupted coverage of the Watergate hearings, which would eventually lead to him resigning from the presidency. 

At the time, viewers of the commercial networks complained that hearing coverage interrupted regular programming, while networks like C-SPAN did not yet exist. PBS was a noncommercial venue for educating the public about the most serious issue of the moment.

In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan tried to cut public broadcasting funding even though the Democratic-led Congress had voted for money to be appropriated for that cause. Both George W. Bush and Trump (in his first term) attempted to defund the broadcasters as well.

During the 2012 presidential election, Republican nominee Mitt Romney joined the crusade against public media, only to be mocked in an ad from then-President Barack Obama. The ad noted that despite the crimes of Wall Street during the Great Recession, Romney had singled out Big Bird—complaining that taxpayers were funding “Sesame Street.”

Romney lost, and Big Bird remains.

But why are Republicans so focused on attacking PBS and NPR, to the point that the ire transcends the ideological differences within the Republican Party over decades?

A big part of the reason is trust. Public media in the United States has been a resounding success. Both on the radio and on television (and now online), PBS and NPR provide content trusted by a wide swath of Americans, and both services have a very good track record of providing information without corporate or political influence.

For over 22 years of polling, PBS has been ranked as the most trusted institution in the United States. A January poll from YouGov found that PBS was more highly regarded than courts of law, commercial television and print publications, and above even the federal government and Congress. 

Similarly, according to Harris Interactive in late 2024, NPR was ranked as the most trustworthy news media brand in America.

PBS Kids, which is the programming bloc where “Sesame Street” resides, is trusted by the vast majority of parents (88%), according to a YouGov poll. And 90% of parents agreed that PBS Kids helps to prepare children for educational success. Parents also ranked it as far and away the most educational media brand.

“Sesame Street” has long tackled important topics like racism, making it clear to children that this kind of bigotry is “wrong and unfair.”

In short, public broadcasting represents the opposite of many conservative beliefs. The networks support accessible information, prioritize education, and strive to produce content opposing bigotry.

Conservatives see more utility in divisive, bigoted figures—like Greene and Trump—than in Big Bird, who promotes kindness and friendship.

But the right’s leadership is out of touch with America on this topic. A March poll from the Pew Research Center revealed that more Americans support continued funding for PBS and NPR (43%) than want to eliminate its federal funding (24%).

A February poll from YouGov showed that even Trump voters value the network, with 65% saying the PBS is underfunded or adequately funded, and 72% saying they value PBS’ educational content.

Americans, as they have since the character first emerged, are firmly in Big Bird’s corner. Republicans have yet to learn how to get to Sesame Street.

If Big Bird represents Democratic values, Republicans most certainly rally around Oscar the (Self-Serving) Grouch. And my god, are Bert and Ernie really gay?

Protests Hit Tesla Dealerships Across the World to Repudiate Elon Musk

  From Australia to Europe and the US, demonstrators rallied against carmaker’s dismantling of US federal government. (photo: NBC News)

“Stopping Musk will help save lives and our democracy.”

 

Dara Kerr and Edward Helmore / Guardian UK 

 29 March 25

 

Thousands of people worldwide on Saturday protested Elon Musk and his efforts with Donald Trump to dismantle the US federal government, with rallies held in front of nearly every Tesla showroom in the US and many around the world – a concerted effort to go after the billionaire’s deep pockets as the CEO of the electric vehicle maker.

Protest organizers asked people to do three things: don’t buy a Tesla, sell off Tesla stock and join the “Tesla Takedown” movement.

“Hurting Tesla is stopping Musk,” reads one of the group’s taglines. “Stopping Musk will help save lives and our democracy.”

On Saturday, with more than 200 events planned worldwide, protests kicked off midday in front of Tesla showrooms in Australia and New Zealand and then rippled across Europe in countries including Finland, Norway, Denmark, Germany, France, the Netherlands and the UK. Each rally was locally organized with original themes. In Ireland, it was “Smash the Fash”, and Switzerland had “Down with Doge”. 

Photos posted to Bluesky by Tesla Takedown showed demonstrators in San Jose, California, close to where Tesla was previously headquartered, and Austin, Texas, where its headquarters are now.

Musk, the world’s richest person, heads the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge), which he’s tasked with slashing federal budgets in the US, including laying off thousands of workers, though he said in an interview Thursday: “Almost no one has gotten fired.” 

He’s gone after the Social Security Administration, the Department of Education, the National Park Service and several more departments and agencies, causing widespread backlash and criticism. Musk and Tesla did not return requests for comment.

In San Francisco, a crowd of around 200 people gathered in front of the Tesla showroom. Protesters spilled into the busy street and onto the median, confusing the self-driving Waymos trying to get around people darting back and forth.

A boombox blasted "We’re Not Gonna Take It" by Twisted Sister and cars drove by honking enthusiastically. Even passing postal trucks, public buses and fire engines honked in support. People propped up signs with slogans like “Burn your swastikar before it burns you” and “No Doge bags”. Others flew massive American flags mounted upside down.

The block-long Tesla showroom was emptied of all cars, and only a few security guards stood inside, with some San Francisco police outside. At one point, a group of four men wearing red Maga hats and black Doge shirts walked through the crowd, but everything remained calm.

“I’m out here protesting because what I see is a hostile takeover of our country,” said Myra Levy, who was holding a sign that said “Pinche Ladrón” (“fucking thief”). “That is not OK for me. That is not OK for all of us.”

Her friend, Karen Heisler, emphatically added: “We did not vote for this.”

In Berkeley, California, the Tesla showroom has shut down every Saturday for the last month because of the weekly protests, according to salespeople from neighboring retailers. Only security guards have stayed on to guard the building. It’s been the scene of lively demonstrations that have included a mariachi band and a 10-foot cardboard Cybertruck for people to spray-paint. Earlier this month, the showroom’s front door was splattered with red paint. The showroom manager declined to comment.

In New York City, several hundred anti-Tesla protesters gathered outside the EV company’s Manhattan showroom on Saturday. Sophie Shepherd, 23, an organizer with Planet Over Profit, explained that the rally was not about protesting electric cars.

“We’re here to protest Musk, who has essentially held a Tesla car show on the White House lawn,” she said. “We want to disrupt his business as much as possible, so that includes all Teslas, and not just the Cybertruck.”

Marty, 82, said he was attending the New York City rally “because I’m worried about my country”. In the 1960s, he protested the Vietnam war. “Now, it’s the overthrow of our country by oligarchs,” he said. The rally, he went on, was a message to “this guy Elon who is buying our government”.

On Friday, the New York police department said its officers were searching for two suspects who allegedly carved the word “Nazis” and a swastika on the doors of a Tesla Cybertruck in Brooklyn this week, part of an uptick in attacks on Tesla vehicles and facilities across the US since Trump took office.

In Washington DC, organizers planned a rally in front of a new Tesla showroom in Georgetown, making the theme “Tesla Takedown Dance Party”. “Dump the meme stock, join dance lines,” read the flyer. “The stakes couldn’t be higher but that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun!”

“The hypocrisy is so deep,” said Manissa Maharawal, an assistant professor at American University who has studied anti-tech protests and points out that Tesla has received billions in government funding. “It’s this company that’s been subsidized in a lot of ways by the government, but now the CEO is trying to dismantle the government because he thinks he knows better than everyone, because he comes from the tech industry.”

In the US, protests happened in nearly every state, across the north-east, south and midwest through to the west coast. States with the most planned rallies included Massachusetts, New York, Florida, Texas, Washington and California, totaling more than 100. Several protests also took place throughout Canada.

In London, dozens of demonstrators gathered at a Tesla showroom along the three-lane A40 in West London.

“Musk is hugely abhorrent. He is funding the far right, and meaning that any Republicans who speak out end up not being funded in their next election,” said gay rights campaigner Nigel Warner.

“It’s too overwhelming to do nothing,” said Louise Cobbett-Witten, who has family in the US and was protesting at the Tesla dealership in west London. “There is real solace in coming together like this. Everyone has to do something. We haven’t got a big strategy besides just standing on the side of the street, holding signs and screaming.”

Tesla Takedown organizers reiterated the need for people to continue to speak out and protest against Musk, Trump and Doge. The stakes are high and “no one is coming to save us”, they say on their website.

Maharawal, from American University, said she was struck by that sentiment, saying: “For there to be a nationwide and global protest saying ‘no one’s coming to save us’ just speaks to the level of anger and desperation right now.”

Organizers have also been careful to distance themselves from the violent vandalism that has been carried out against Tesla showrooms. Dozens of Tesla facilities have been attacked in the middle of the night with molotov cocktails, gunshots or graffiti saying things like “Fuck Elon” and “Tesla Is Fascist”.

Trump has vowed to designate any violence against Tesla dealerships as domestic terrorism.

Tesla Takedown organizers condemn the vandalism. “We are a non-violent grassroots protest movement,” the group says. “We oppose violence and destruction of property. Peaceful protest on public property is not domestic terrorism.”

Despite campaign promise, it only took two months for Trump and Musk to break Social Security

President Donald Trump lies to America as Elon Musk nods approval in the Oval Office at the White House on Feb. 11, 2025.

Seems tax cuts for billionaires "Trump" a self-funded retirement program

 

By Emily Singer

Daily Kos Staff

Tuesday, March 25, 2025 at 3:00:01p MDT

 

REPUBLISHED BY: 

Blue Country Gazette Blog 

Rim Country Gazette Blog

President Donald Trump and co-President Elon Musk's cuts to the Social Security Administration's workforce and operations have caused massive problems for the popular social safety net program that 73 million Americans depend on to afford their basic cost of living.

The Washington Post published a bombshell report on Tuesday, detailing the problems Musk has caused at the Social Security Administration through his so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

From the report:

The Social Security Administration website crashed four times in 10 days this month, blocking millions of retirees and disabled Americans from logging in to their online accounts because the servers were overloaded. In the field, office managers have resorted to answering phones at the front desk as receptionists because so many employees have been pushed out. But the agency no longer has a system to monitor customers’ experience with these services, because that office was eliminated as part of the cost-cutting efforts led by Elon Musk.

[…]

The turmoil is leaving many retirees, disabled claimants and legal immigrants who need Social Security cards with less access or shut out of the system altogether, according to those familiar with the problems.

The problems are thanks to a myriad of choices Musk has made to how the agency runs.

The Social Security Administration plans to cut roughly 7,000 employees—or 12% of its workforce—which current and former Social Security officials say could make it impossible for the program to keep up with the needs of the tens of millions of Americans who receive and apply for benefits annually.

“Everything they have done so far is breaking the agency’s ability to serve the public,” Martin O’Malley, who served as Social Security commissioner under former President Joe Biden, told The New York Times.

Musk and his DOGE bros also changed the way recipients can verify their identities to the agency, nixing the ability to do so over the phone and requiring the elderly and disabled people who receive benefits to do it either online or in-person. That’s an incredible burden for a population that is not as computer literate as others. It could also burden recipients who live in rural areas or areas with poor internet access. Going in person would be even more of a burden since many elderly and disabled recipients cannot travel to offices—if they could even get an appointment.

Demonstrators gather outside of the Edward A. Garmatz United States District Courthouse in Baltimore, on March 14, 2025, before a hearing regarding the Department of Government Efficiency's access to Social Security data.

A memo obtained by the newsletter Popular Information said the new identity-verification procedure would lead an additional 75,000 to 85,000 weekly visits to agency offices. In turn, that would lead to “longer wait times and processing times,” the memo said. Already, wait times for appointments can be more than a month.

Musk has had it out for Social Security since his buddy Trump put him in charge of finding waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government.

Musk criticized the social safety net program as a “Ponzi scheme.” He lied that the program is rife with fraud—lies that have led eligible people to lose benefits. He also helped force out the acting Social Security administrator and replace him Leland Dudek, an unqualified hothead who has acted vindictively since taking over.

For example, Dudek canceled a contract that allowed new parents in Maine to apply for Social Security numbers for their newborn infants at the hospital—a move that would have forced those parents to travel to a Social Security office to obtain. He seemingly did it to punish Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat who stood up to Trump at a meeting with governors.

Dudek also threatened to shut the entire Social Security Administration down because he was mad that a judge blocked DOGE officials from accessing Americans’ sensitive personal information as they sought to prove Musk’s baseless lies that the agency is rife with fraud.

Musk isn’t the only Trump administration official attacking Social Security.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick disparaged the program and accused anyone who has had problems receiving benefits as being "fraudsters."

"Let's say Social Security didn't send out their checks this month. My mother-in-law, who's 94, she wouldn't call and complain. She just wouldn't. She thinks something got messed up and she'll get it next month. A fraudster always makes the loudest noise screaming, yelling, and complaining. And all the guys who did PayPal, like Elon knows this by heart, right? Anybody who's been in the payment system and the process system knows the easiest way to find the fraudster is to stop payments and listen,” Lutnick—who is a billionaire and could easily ensure his mother-in-law wouldn’t face financial ruin if her Social Security check went missing—said on a podcast.

Musk’s attacks on the overwhelmingly popular social safety net program goes against Trump’s claim that he would protect Social Security if elected.

And breaking Social Security is politically moronic. It is one of the most popular programs in the country. 

Eighty-seven percent of Americans ages 25 and older believe that Social Security should be a priority for the nation, regardless of governmental budget deficits, according to an October 2023 poll from Greenwald Research for the National Institute on Retirement Security, a nonpartisan research organization. And a more recent poll, conducted by Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, found that 67% of Americans believed the government spends too little on Social Security. Only 6% said too much is spent on the program.

What’s more, older voters who receive Social Security benefits are among the most reliable voting blocs in the country. That means a backlash from those voters could sink Republicans chances in the 2026 midterm elections. In 2024, Trump won voters ages 65 and older by just 1 percentage point, according to exit polls, so even a modest backlash from that voting group could heavily damage Republicans next November.

And the signs that the backlash is coming are already showing up. Older voters are packing into Republican lawmakers’ town halls to demand they stand up to Musk’s DOGE cuts.

Time to take to the streets, Seniors.  You have nothing to lose but the food on your table.

GAFFE CENTRAL: Who exactly is running the White House? It's sure not Trump

 No, France, you can't have the Statue of Liberty back.  Trump is not done with her yet.

"Trump is both notorious liar and moron, so you never know whether he is playing dumb, or really doesn’t get what is going on."

 

By Emily Singer 

Daily Kos Staff 

Thursday, March 27, 2025 at 12:00:14p MDT 

 

REPUBLISHED BY: 

Blue Country Gazette Blog 

Rim Country Gazette Blog

President Donald Trump’s incoherent response to his senior military and intelligence officials compromising national security by sharing the details of an impending military strike on an unsecure text messaging app raises a terrifying question: Who is even running things around here?

Trump has repeatedly said that he’s either not been briefed on the massive security lapse, or has shown he doesn’t understand what happened—neither of which is reassuring.

For example, the day that Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg reported that he was apparently inadvertently added to a Signal chat with Vice President JD Vance, national security adviser Mike Waltz, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and other top national security officials where they were discussing an imminent attack on a rebel group in Yemen, Trump said he didn’t know that happened.

"I don't know anything about it,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “I'm not a big fan of The Atlantic. To me it's a magazine that's going out of business. But I know nothing about it. You're saying that they had what?"

The question was posed to him hours after the article was published, giving him ample time to have had a response prepared. What’s more, since Goldberg had reached out to the White House for comment before the article was published, Trump should have known for even longer that the story was coming. The fact that he said he didn’t know about it means he was either lying or hadn’t been kept in the loop by his own staff—which again are both terrible scenarios.

Then on Wednesday, days after the story broke, Trump gave an interview to right-wing podcaster Vince Coglianese in which he suggested he didn’t even know what the Signal messaging app was.

“But somebody in my group, either screwed up or it’s a bad signal. It’s a bad signal, happens too,” Trump said, apparently thinking that this scandal revolves around a literal signal and not the Signal messaging app.

Additionally on Wednesday, when The Atlantic released yet more texts showing that Hegseth had shared classified information in the thread about the exact timing of the attacks and what weapons systems would be used, Trump falsely claimed to reporters that Hegseth wasn’t involved.

"Hegseth is doing a great job. He had nothing to do with this. How do you bring Hegseth into it? He had nothing to do with it,” Trump said while sitting in the Oval Office.

Trump then went on to make more nonsensical comments about Signal, giving an answer that ultimately makes what his top administration officials did look even worse.

“You want to ask about whether or not Signal works? I don’t know that Signal works. I think Signal could be defective to be honest with you. And I think that’s what we have to do, because you use Signal and we use Signal and everybody uses Signal, but it could be a defective platform and we’re going to have to figure that out.”

That response certainly doesn’t help Trump’s argument that this is all a hoax, given that we know his aides used Signal to share classified information—which Trump described as a “defective platform.”

Of course, Trump is both a notorious liar and a moron, so you never know whether he is lying by playing dumb, or really doesn’t understand what is going on.

In this instance, it’s likely both, as the technologically illiterate Trump—who thinks his own son is some sort of genius because he can turn on a laptop computer—probably doesn’t understand what Signal is.

Nevertheless, we should have faith that our president has a grasp of what is going on and will hold his administration accountable for putting lives on the line by discussing classified information that could have gotten American troops killed.

But given that Trump is refusing to take responsibility for the security lapse, defending the bad behavior of his inept Cabinet officials, and lying about the scandal itself being a “hoax,” we are not holding our breath that any accountability is on the way.

Maybe Trump was too busy giving Ukraine away to Putin to pay attention to a major security gaffe pulled by several of his appointees.

Trump might ‘compensate’ Jan. 6 criminals he pardoned—with your money

Insurrectionists loyal to President Donald Trump try to break through a police barrier, on Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington.

Elon and Donnie want to cut Social Security and give your money to pardoned rioters 

By Alex Samuels 

Daily Kos Staff 

Wednesday, March 26, 2025 at 2:00:10p MDT

 

REPUBLISHED BY:

Blue Country Gazette Blog

Rim Country Gazette Blog 

Amid a wave of federal program cuts affecting millions of Americans, President Donald Trump announced that his administration is considering compensating the MAGA loyalists who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. 

In an interview with the conservative outlet Newsmax, host Greg Kelly asked Trump whether there was any discussion of a “compensation fund” for the rioters—many of whom were rearrested for other crimes after getting pardons—because they lost “income” and “opportunity” during their incarceration. In response, Trump confirmed, “There’s a lot of talk about that.”

“People in government really liked that group of people,” he continued. “They were patriots as far as I was concerned. I talk about them a lot. They were treated very unfairly.”

While Trump notably did not provide further details, he appeared to be floating what some might call reparations for the Jan. 6 felons—an initiative that, if pursued, would likely be funded by taxpayers.

During the interview, Trump also pledged to “look into” whether the federal government should reach a settlement with the family of Ashli Babbit, the “big MAGA fan” who was fatally shot by a police officer during the riot. Last January, Babbitt’s family filed a $30 million wrongful death lawsuit against the U.S. government.

“Babbitt was a really good person who was a big MAGA fan, Trump fan, and she was innocently standing there—they even say, trying to sort of hold back the crowd,” Trump said. “And a man did something unthinkable to her when he shot her, and I think it’s a disgrace. ”

Even if Trump is right in saying that the diehard MAGA loyalists in his administration sympathize with the rioters, the public sure doesn’t. In December, a Civiqs poll for Daily Kos found that a bare majority of registered voters (51%) opposed Trump’s plan to pardon those who took part in the insurrection.

That, however, didn’t stop Trump from issuing a sweeping grant of clemency to the more than 1,500 individuals charged in connection with the Capitol attack when he was reelected to the White House in January. He also commuted the sentences of 14 imprisoned insurrectionists, allowing them to roam the streets freely. 

Though many of the people let off the hook by the president were among some of the worst people on the planet, the president has routinely referred to them as “hostages” and baselessly claimed that they were victims of an unjust criminal justice system.

But let’s be clear: The individuals Trump pardoned were neither “patriots” nor were they victims. One such individual, Andrew Taake, who originally received a six-year sentence for his actions on Jan. 6, was later arrested again on an outstanding child sex crimes charge. Another convicted rioter, Edward Kelley, was separately charged with making a “kill list” and conspiring to murder the law enforcement agents who investigated him. 

What’s worse, their attack on the Capitol caused at least $1.5 million worth of damage, according to the Washington Post. 

It’s particularly egregious that Trump would even consider using federal funds to compensate those indicted for the attack, especially as his administration slashes essential programs that millions of Americans rely on. For instance, Trump gutted the Department of Education, and with help from his billionaire ally Elon Musk, he’s overseen the firing of thousands of federal workers or pressured them into accepting buyouts which has broken everything from the IRS to Social Security.

If Americans weren’t onboard with Trump’s plan to pardon these criminals, they’re even less likely to support footing the bill for their “compensation.”

 

Cartoon by Clay Jones

Daily Kos

If King Donald the Worst Can Disappear Them, He Can Disappear You

 

   

Former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich. (photo: Steve Russell/Toronto Star)

With no court to verify anything the Trump regime alleges, you could be arrested and sent to a prison in El Salvador for having views the regime dislikes

 

Robert Reich / Substack

  

25 March 25

Let’s say you don’t like what the Trump administration is doing, or you don’t like Trump. You express these views on Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.

You take a two-week vacation in France. When you try to return to the United States, U.S. immigration agents arrest you. They detain you in solitary confinement. They don’t let you contact your family. They don’t let you contact a lawyer. Then they send you to a brutal prison in El Salvador.

But wait! You scream over and over. You can’t do this! I’m an American citizen!

Your screams have no effect.

Sound far-fetched? Recently, a French scientist was prevented from entering the United States because U.S. Border Patrol agents had found messages from him in which he had expressed his “personal opinion” to colleagues and friends about Trump’s science policies.

In another case, immigration agents detained Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a kidney transplant specialist and professor at Brown University who was trying to return to the United States after visiting relatives in Lebanon.

Dr. Alawieh was not allowed to do that. She was deported despite having a valid visa and a court order blocking her removal. Federal authorities alleged that they found “sympathetic photos and videos of prominent Hezbollah figures” in her phone and that she attended the funeral for the leader of Hezbollah in February.

But these are just the Trump regime’s allegations. No court has been able to review this evidence.

U.S. border officials concede they’re using more aggressive tactics these days, which the administration calls “enhanced vetting,” at ports of entry to the United States.

Okay, so maybe you don’t go abroad. You just express views that the current U.S. government regime dislikes. As a result, U.S. government agents arrest and detain and then “disappear” you. They say you’re a threat to national security.

Again, not as far-fetched as it sounds.

The regime has begun to target legal immigrants in the United States who have expressed views that the Trump regime believes threaten national security and undermine foreign policy.

Investigators for Immigration and Customs Enforcement have been searching videos, online posts, and news clippings of campus protests against the Israel-Hamas war.

To deport people living in the United States with green cards or valid visas, the Trump regime has invoked a rarely used provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act that gives the secretary of state sweeping power to expel foreigners who are seen as a threat to the country’s foreign policy interests.

Using that authority, ICE agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia graduate who has Palestinian heritage and took on a prominent role in the pro-Palestinian protests at the school, and Badar Khan Suri, an Indian citizen who has been studying and teaching at Georgetown.

Mr. Khalil has a green card, which means he is a legal permanent resident.

Apparently, the State Department believes Dr. Suri engaged in antisemitic speech that would undermine diplomatic efforts to get Israel and Hamas to agree to a ceasefire. He is in the United States on a visa for academics.

On Monday night, Dr. Suri was surrounded by masked Homeland Security agents outside his home in Virginia, arrested, and placed in an unmarked SUV. A judge has temporarily blocked his removal from the country.

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, accuses Khalil of “siding with terrorists” and Dr. Suri of “spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media.”

But why should we believe her? She has provided no evidence. Why should we believe anything the Trump regime alleges? Neither Khalil nor Suri has been charged with a crime.

Or consider Venezuelan and Salvadoran men who have been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Where are they now? Their families don’t know. They’ve been disappeared over the past week, with no explanation provided by the government over why or where they may be.

None of these cases has been reviewed by a court of law. There have been no independent findings that any of these people constitute a danger to the United States, or even that their views are dangerous.

There’s not even been an independent finding that these people are non-Americans. For all we know, they could be just like you or me — Americans who have expressed views that the Trump regime dislikes.

Do you see how perilously close we are to the edge?

Attorney General Bondi threatens Jasmine Crockett over her anti-Tesla talk

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, speaks during the first day of Democratic National Convention, on Aug. 19, 2024, in Chicago.  If you are not yet familiar with this fiery young woman, you are in for a treat.  She takes no Republican prisoners, and she's from, of all places, Texas.  And yes, Republicans do not like her at all - especially Marjorie Taylor Green.

“So Pam Bondi, if you have an issue with terrorism, maybe you should talk to your boss about...Jan. 6."

 

By Oliver Willis 

Daily Kos Staff 

 

REPUBLISHED BY: 

Blue Country Gazette Blog 

Rim Country Gazette Blog

 Monday, March 24, 2025 at 8:30:12a MDT

Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett slammed President Donald Trump for releasing Jan. 6 criminals, then turning around days later to brand anti-Elon Musk protests at Tesla dealerships as terrorism.

Attorney General Pam Bondi appeared with Fox Business conspiracy theorist Maria Bartiromo on Sunday to issue a threat against Crockett, who had spoken before a “Tesla Takedown” protest.

Bondi described vandalism of Tesla dealerships as “domestic terrorism,” adding, “Now you have this congresswoman, Crockett, who is calling for attacks on Elon Musk on her birthday? Let’s take him out on my birthday, she says? Yet she turns and says, ‘Oh I’m not calling for violence’? Well, she is an elected public official and so she needs to tread very carefully.”

In an interview later in the day on MSNBC, Crockett made clear that she was discussing destroying Tesla stock, which has cratered over the last year, in her speech about taking down Musk. Crockett explained that she and protest organizers have called for nonviolent protests and that the Trump administration and its supporters have continually mischaracterized her remarks, taking them out of context.

“Just in case the slow people listening decide to clip this up later, I just want to say that I have never promoted violence whatsoever, yet I’ve also never made excuses for those violent actors, such as the ones on Jan. 6,” Crockett said.

“So Pam Bondi, if you have an issue with terrorism, maybe you should talk to your boss about locking back up those guys that he let out that participated in Jan. 6.”

Trump and his team have been obsessed with defending Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency group from criticism, and have now resorted to open advocacy for Tesla, Musk’s most visible business. Trump recently used the White House for a Tesla sales pitch, reading from marketing copy to promote his billionaire benefactor’s private business.

SHYSTER CAR SALESMEN: Trump and Musk speak to reporters near a red Model S Tesla vehicle on the South Lawn of the White House on March 11, 2025, in Washington.

The message has been amplified in Congress, where Republican leaders like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene have argued that peaceful anti-Musk protests are acts of “terrorism.”

Trump has even floated deporting people for the purported sin of protesting at Tesla dealerships.

Voters are using Tesla locations as a local venue to express their dissatisfaction with Musk’s assault on the federal government, which has now cost thousands of jobs and is projected to result in at least a half a trillion shortfall in federal revenue.

Meanwhile, Trump has been soft on crime—as long as it was done in his name.

Trump triggered the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden. The attack was an attempt to stop the certification of the election result and Trump was later impeached and indicted for his role in the assault (charges were dropped after he won reelection).

When he got back in office, Trump pardoned the attackers—releasing hundreds of convicted criminals, including some who had been found guilty in federal court of sedition. Some of those who he released have gone on to commit more crimes, returning to the pattern of behavior that got them in trouble in the first place.

Trump was even criticized by the Fraternal Order of Police and the International Association of Chiefs of Police for showing leniency toward convicted criminals who have assaulted law enforcement officers, who were guarding the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Even his close political ally, the ass-kissing toady Sen. Lindsey Graham, admitted that Trump’s actions were a mistake.

“Pardoning the people who went into the Capitol and beat up a police officer violently, I think was a mistake, because it seems to suggest that’s an okay thing to do,” Graham said.

 

 

Don't by fooled by her innocent looks; this fearless lady packs a whale of a political punch.

Trump voters wanted to harm other people—or at best didn’t care

MOROSE MAGATS: Trump supporters turned out big for the 2024 election. Now they're feeling the pain.

MAGATS conveniently forgot how Trump f#cked them the last time

By Kos

Daily Kos Staff

Saturday, March 22, 2025 at 9:00:03a MDT

 

REPUBLISHED BY:

Blue Country Gazette Blog

Rim Country Gazette.Blog 

This is an occasional roundup of people who voted for Donald Trump and are shocked to find out no one is immune from the damage and pain he causes. Many are now grappling with the consequences of their choice as it affects them and their loved ones—and possibly regretting their vote.

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President Donald Trump’s campaign was a veritable buffet of hate—against immigrants, trans people, the media, liberals, foreigners, U.S. allies, women, Republicans like Liz Cheney who opposed his fascism, protesters (Jan. 6 insurrectionists exempted), and anyone else who he believed wronged him. 

Trump voters are stupid in many ways, but they knew exactly who and what he is when they voted for him. They either voted for Trump because they gleefully wanted to hurt those groups and individuals or because they simply didn’t care.

“I want lower grocery prices” is a valid reason to vote (assuming a candidate/party has a plan to make that happen), but “I want lower grocery prices even if millions of people are hurt” is not. It’s cruel, and it makes that person a bad person. 

And, no, saying “I changed my mind about Trump because I’m the one now being hurt” does not make one a better person. It just underscores how shitty and selfish that individual is. 

We saw this during the first Trump presidency after a hurricane smashed into the Gulf states. This heavily Republican area suffered as Trump’s callous indifference meant that no one showed up to help. 

Not that anyone in that region learned the lesson. Those states voted even more heavily for Trump in 2024, as Republicans conveniently forgot how Trump fucked them the last time, while pretending that President Joe Biden’s hurricane response in North Carolina was somehow lacking. 

So Trump got elected once again by promising to hurt the “wrong” people. Unfortunately for them, he’s hurting all people. 

“I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” Crystal Minton told The New York Times. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”

Trump supporters are seen giving an interview during a rally.

A “military contractor” at a diner in Trumpy St. Mary’s County, Maryland, spoke to this phenomenon. 

Trump won the county by almost 60%, but now the people of St. Mary’s are suffering as the so-called Department of Government Efficiency slashes government jobs in the area. 

”Most times, when we want change, we want it to affect other people, not ourselves,” the contractor told WTOP news. “And this is affecting quite a lot of people. There’s some folks who didn’t expect this—didn’t see themselves as being the fraud that was being referenced.”

Which brings us to this Virginia veteran, DOGE’d into the unemployment line, who said “I support downsizing, but it’s just the way they’re going about doing it. It’s like the chainsaw approach, I guess, versus the surgical approach that they should be doing.” 

You see, other people were supposed to lose their jobs. Not him! 

Or how about this user on X, a self-declared “special needs advocate and mom,” who rages against all of the usual MAGA targets. But DON’T TOUCH her pet issue, special education! 

“Genuinely curious, are there ANY Senator or House members who care at all about Special Education, IDEA, IEP and 504’s? With DOE in limbo, possibly moving under HHS, special needs parents are seeing some reassurance and hopefully some guaranteed funding to directly get to our amazing Special Education system and programs,” she wrote on X Friday. 

Guaranteed funding? No one funds special education programs because it’s efficient. In fact, it is inherently inefficient. We fund those programs because, as a society, we’re supposedly not assholes. But this asshole wants her little corner of the world funded while the rest of the world burns. 

There are so many more examples. On the r/Conservative subreddit, one user responded to a story about a judge blocking Trump’s freeze on federal grants and loans. 

“I'm torn on this. My wife's business is nonprofit and they work through Medicaid. Their business is fairly young and they won't be able to survive 90 days of a federal spending freeze. There is a better way to do this other than killing all spending without any information. Nobody knows anything. This has the potential to hurt a lot of people who have nothing to do with the DFI agenda,” they wrote.

There is an empathy deficit in our country, with clearly delineated fault lines between liberals and selfish, hateful conservatives. 

And it’s only getting worse, as many liberals (like me!) have lost all sympathy for these crying Trump supporters. They knew what they were voting for. Now I hope they get it.