Tag Archives: Barack Obama

MSNBC: Maddow Blog | ‘No Kings’ protests, special election results leave no doubt about the backlash to Trump

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In elections and special elections throughout the country, results like these have become rather common lately. After last week’s special elections in multiple states, The Downballot reported, “Overall, in 29 special elections this year, Democratic candidates have run 16.4 points ahead of the 2024 presidential results on average.” G. Elliott Morris, the former director of data analytics at FiveThirtyEight, published a related analysis that pointed in the same direction.

‘No Kings’ protests, special election results leave no doubt about the backlash to Trump
Between activism, election results and protest turnout, the prevailing political winds suggest the backlash to the president is real.

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/no-kings-protests-special-election-results-leave-no-doubt-backlash-tru-rcna213209

Raw Story: ‘Very insulted’: Trump tells G7 members they’ve hurt Putin’s feelings

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U.S. President Donald Trump used a press conference with G7 chair Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to air Russia’s grievances about being kicked out of what was then the G8 over the annexation of Crimea.

Who cares?

Carney had just publicly welcomed Trump to the summit when the president launched into his claim that there would never have been a full-scale invasion of Ukraine had he been president.

Bullsh*t!

“And, I mean, he was thrown out by Trudeau, who convinced one or two people along with Obama. He was thrown out. And he’s not a happy person about it, I can tell you that. He basically doesn’t even speak to the people that threw him out. And I agree with him.

Poor babies!

‘Very insulted’: Trump tells G7 members they’ve hurt Putin’s feelings

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-putin-ukraine-ceasefire

Rolling Stone: Barack Obama Defends DACA Amid Mass Deportations and ICE Raids

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In a post marking the 13th anniversary of his administration’s policy, Obama called out how immigrants “are being demonized and treated as enemies”

Former President Barack Obama took to social media this weekend to mark the 13th anniversary of his administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. He called his administration’s immigration policy, which offered temporary protection and work permits to undocumented immigrants who arrived to the U.S. as kids, “an example of how we can be a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws” while describing how families with similar backgrounds “are being demonized and treated as enemies” under the Trump administration today.

“Thirteen years ago, my administration acted to protect young people who were American in every single way but one: on paper,” his post read. “DACA was an example of how we can be a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws. And it’s an example worth remembering today, when families with similar backgrounds who just want to live, work, and support their communities, are being demonized and treated as enemies. We can fix our broken immigration system while still recognizing our common humanity and treating each other with dignity and respect. In fact, it’s the only way we ever will.”

Barack Obama Defends DACA Amid Mass Deportations and ICE Raids
In a post marking the 13th anniversary of DACA, former President Barack Obama called out how immigrants ‘are being demonized and treated as enemies.’

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/barack-obama-daca-trump-immigration-1235365749

Law & Crime: ‘Different in kind’: 4-star generals, admirals serving from JFK to Obama say Los Angeles ICE protests don’t warrant deployment of National Guard to California

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4-star admirals, generals serving from JFK to Obama warn Trump’s deployment of National Guard poses ‘potentially grave risk’

Ahead of a Zoom hearing scheduled for Tuesday at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a group of retired four-star generals and admirals who served under presidents ranging from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama filed court documents warning that President Donald Trump’s federalization of the California National Guard and deployment of U.S. Marines poses “potentially grave risk of irreparable harm.”

Seeking the appellate court’s leave to file a brief and enter the case as amici curiae — Latin for “friends of the court” — the retired generals, admirals, and former U.S. Army and Navy secretaries did not explicitly take Gov. Gavin Newsom’s side in the case. They did suggest Sunday, however, that the Trump administration’s bid for an emergency stay of a lower-court ruling and continued push to quell “violent riots” in Los Angeles amid nationwide “No Kings” protests over ICE raids may not pass legal muster when compared to historical precedents.

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Again, although the retired admirals and generals did not support either party to the case, they implicitly warmed to Breyer’s ruling that the definition of “rebellion” has not been met and that, in the proposed amici’s words, the “recent and ongoing situation” in Los Angeles “appears to be different in kind” from the “extreme circumstances” of the 1992 Rodney King riots and the times when state governors “openly” and defiantly stood against the end of racial segregation during the Civil Rights era.

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The brief concluded that Trump’s injection of the military into “domestic political controversies” — “undermining its ability to achieve its core mission of protecting the nation” — is a case in point as to why troops “should be kept out of domestic law enforcement whenever possible.”

Retired four-star generals sound alarm at 9th Circuit on Trump’s National Guard deployment
Retired four-star generals and admirals warn that Trump’s federalization of the National Guard and deployment of U.S. Marines poses “potentially grave risk.”
‘Different in kind’: 4-star generals, admirals serving from JFK to Obama say Los Angeles ICE protests don’t warrant deployment of National Guard to California

Law & Crime: ‘Doesn’t speak with precision about things sometimes’: DOJ attorney offers mixed praise for Trump’s communication skills during Abrego Garcia hearing

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An attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice offered some mixed praise of President Donald Trump‘s communication skills during a previously secret hearing in the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case.

A transcript of the hearing was recently released, in redacted form and limited fashion, by U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, a Barack Obama appointee, in response to a motion to unseal several documents in the case filed by multiple news organizations.

While the transcript is not yet available on the public court docket, The New York Times’ Alan Feuer obtained a copy of the document and posted a notable snippet of an exchange between the judge and DOJ attorney Jonathan Guynn in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

“President Trump is you know, is a master messenger in many ways, but he also doesn’t speak with precision about things sometimes,” the government lawyer said. “And I think that this might be one of those situations where perhaps his comments were based on what he was recalling may have been the state of play previously.”

While the transcript is not yet available on the public court docket, The New York Times’ Alan Feuer obtained a copy of the document and posted a notable snippet of an exchange between the judge and DOJ attorney Jonathan Guynn in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

“President Trump is you know, is a master messenger in many ways, but he also doesn’t speak with precision about things sometimes,” the government lawyer said. “And I think that this might be one of those situations where perhaps his comments were based on what he was recalling may have been the state of play previously.”

The DOJ lawyer’s remarks came amid a discussion about the 45th and 47th president’s ability to have Abrego Garcia brought back stateside.

Until the Maryland man was abruptly returned earlier this month, the official position of the government was that the U.S. simply no longer had control of the situation. Attorney after attorney, in courtroom after courtroom, insisted the decision rested with officials in El Salvador.

Xinis appeared suspicious of this claim, based on an April 29 interview of Trump by since-fired ABC News anchor Terry Moran. During that interview, Trump said he “could” just pick up the phone and have the Salvadoran president return Abrego Garcia to the U.S. But, Trump added, “we have lawyers that don’t want to do this.”

The hearing was the very next day — and part of Guynn’s job was cleaning up Trump’s statement, which flatly contradicted the DOJ’s position.

Xinis was not, however, the only judge to be struck by Trump’s admission about Abrego Garcia during the ABC News interview.

During a May 7 hearing in the initial Alien Enemies Act case before U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, a jurist who got his start under George W. Bush and was then promoted by Barack Obama, the president’s words were put directly to DOJ attorney Abhishek Kambli.

“Is the president not telling the truth, or could he secure the release of Mr. Abrego Garcia?” Boasberg asked the government lawyer.

The DOJ attorney tried to sidestep the question by launching into a broader argument about the government’s case. But he was quickly brought back on track by Boasberg, who interjected to say he wanted his questions answered first….

Click the links below for more mumbo jumbo from Trumpski & his attorneys:

‘Doesn’t speak with precision’: DOJ attorney has mixed praise for Trump’s communication skills
“President Trump is you know, is a master messenger in many ways,” the DOJ lawyer said.
‘Doesn’t speak with precision about things sometimes’: DOJ attorney offers mixed praise for Trump’s communication skills during Abrego Garcia hearing

Newsweek: The Scholar Who Predicted America’s Breakdown Says It’s Just Beginning

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Fifteen years ago, smack in the middle of Barack Obama‘s first term, amid the rapid rise of social media and a slow recovery from the Great Recession, a professor at the University of Connecticut issued a stark warning: the United States was heading into a decade of growing political instability.

It sounded somewhat contrarian at the time. The global economy was clawing back from the depths of the financial crisis, and the American political order still seemed anchored in post-Cold War optimism — though cracks were beginning to emerge, as evidenced by the Tea Party uprising. But Peter Turchin, an ecologist-turned-historian, had the data.

“Quantitative historical analysis reveals that complex human societies are affected by recurrent—and predictable—waves of political instability,” Turchin wrote in the journal Nature in 2010, forecasting a spike in unrest around 2020, driven by economic inequality, “elite overproduction” and rising public debt.

Now, with the nation consumed by polarization in the early months of a second Donald Trump presidency, institutional mistrust at all-time highs, and deepening political conflict, Turchin’s prediction appears to have landed with uncanny accuracy.

In the wake of escalating protests and the deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles under President Trump’s immigration crackdown, Turchin spoke with Newsweek about the latest escalation of political turbulence in the United States—and the deeper structural forces he believes have been driving the country toward systemic crisis for more than a decade.

In his 2010 analysis published by Nature, Turchin identified several warning signs in the domestic electorate: stagnating wages, a growing wealth gap, a surplus of educated elites without corresponding elite jobs, and an accelerating fiscal deficit. All of these phenomena, he argued, had reached a turning point in the 1970s. “These seemingly disparate social indicators are actually related to each other dynamically,” he wrote at the time.

“Nearly every one of those indicators has intensified,” Turchin said in an interview with Newsweek, citing real wage stagnation, the effects of artificial intelligence on the professional class and increasingly unmanageable public finances.

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Professor who predicted 2020s unrest sees US sliding deeper into crisis
Fifteen years ago Peter Turchin warned America was on the brink of a decade of growing political unrest. This is what he says now.

https://www.newsweek.com/peter-turchin-political-violence-donald-trump-barack-obama-riots-2083007

Associated Press: The 911 presidency: Trump flexes emergency powers in his second term

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Despite insisting that the United States is rebounding from calamity under his watch, President Donald Trump is harnessing emergency powers unlike any of his predecessors.

Whether it’s leveling punishing tariffs, deploying troops to the border or sidelining environmental regulations, Trump has relied on rules and laws intended only for use in extraordinary circumstances like war and invasion.

An analysis by The Associated Press shows that 30 of Trump’s 150 executive orders have cited some kind of emergency power or authority, a rate that far outpaces his recent predecessors.

The result is a redefinition of how presidents can wield power. Instead of responding to an unforeseen crisis, Trump is using emergency powers to supplant Congress’ authority and advance his agenda.

“What’s notable about Trump is the enormous scale and extent, which is greater than under any modern president,” said Ilya Somin, who is representing five U.S. businesses who sued the administration, claiming they were harmed by Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs.

The 911 presidency: Trump flexes emergency powers in his second term
Call it the 911 presidency. Despite insisting that the United States has rebounded from calamity under his watch, President Donald Trump is harnessing emergency powers unlike any of his predecessors.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-emergency-powers-tariffs-immigration-5cbe386d8f2cc4a374a5d005e618d76a

Law & Crime: ‘Seemingly defiant posture’: State AG gets tongue-lashing from appeals court over ‘veiled threat’ to defy judge’s order stopping immigration arrests

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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit delivered a sharp rebuke on Friday to Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier over the state’s new immigration enforcement law — scolding him for making “a veiled threat” to defy a judge’s order blocking local immigrant arrests, while ruling to leave the order in place.

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Back in April, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued a 14-day stay that blocked the law in question — signed into effect by Gov. Ron DeSantis in February — which gives state law enforcement the power to arrest and prosecute undocumented immigrants. It is a first-degree misdemeanor now for a person to enter Florida as an “unauthorized alien” under the law.

Williams, a Barack Obama appointee, ordered that the legislation not be enforced, arguing that it was the federal government’s responsibility to apprehend and litigate migrants, not individual states.

State AG gets tongue-lashing from appeals court over ‘veiled threat’ to defy judge’s order
The 11th Circuit delivered a sharp rebuke to Florida AG James Uthmeier over the state’s new immigration enforcement law, scolding him for making “a veiled threat” to defy a federal order blocking it.
‘Seemingly defiant posture’: State AG gets tongue-lashing from appeals court over ‘veiled threat’ to defy judge’s order stopping immigration arrests

Raw Story: ‘He has some issue’: Trump biographer reveals depths of the president’s racism

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The first time Donald Trump appeared in the New York Times, back in 1973, was an article on a Department of Justice lawsuit accusing him and his father of anti-Black bias, and one of his biographers says he’s seen the president’s racism up close.

The president has appeared in the pages of his hometown paper thousands of times since then, including numerous articles accusing him of being racist – such as one from February titled, “As Trump Attacks Diversity, a Racist Undercurrent Surfaces” – and author Michael Wolff provided some new insight on that bigotry to The Daily Beast Podcast.

“Clearly, he has some issue with Black people,” Wolff told the podcast on Thursday. “The world is a better place to him without Black people, or without having to be aware of Black people, without Black people somehow in what he considers a zero sum game with white people.”

The president made his entrance into national politics with racist “birther” conspiracy theories about Barack Obama and has for decades maintained the mostly Black teenagers known as the “Central Park Five” were responsible for the rape of a white woman in 1989, although all five were exonerated in 2002, and slurred Latin American immigrants as “criminals” and “rapists” and referred to Haiti and African nations as “s—hole countries,” according to reports.

“Trump certainly regards Black people as profoundly different from white people,” Wolff said. “I mean the word racist now becomes in the Trump world a kind of high praise, because it’s meant to suggest the liberal overreach and the liberals call anybody racist.”

https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-racist-2672229097

Guardian: US police officer resigns after wrongfully arresting undocumented teen

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A Georgia police officer resigned from his job on Friday after erroneously pulling over a teenager, causing her to spend more than two weeks in a federal immigration jail, and leaving her facing deportation.

The officer, Leslie O’Neal, was employed at the police department in Dalton, a small city more than an hour north of Atlanta.

His arrest of college student Ximena Arias-Cristobal not only led to a domino effect that could lead to her deportation – it also engendered anger and criticism, especially given the circumstances of her immigration-related detention.

Though Dalton’s municipal government did not provide any information about why O’Neal resigned, his wife posted his resignation letter on Facebook, which said he believed the local police department did not adequately defend him.

Why should they defend him? He made a mistake that is turning that poor girl’s life upside down. If he can’t take the heat, he should get out of the fire, which apparently he’s done. 🙂

And I have no sympathy for cops who destroy other people lives with their “mistakes”. Screw them!

“The department’s silence in the face of widespread defamation has not only made my position personally untenable but has also created an environment where I can no longer effectively carry out my duties within the city of Dalton without fear of further backlash from the community,” O’Neal wrote in the letter.

But I’m curious: How did she get a Mexican driver’s license? I doubt she’s crossing the border for driver training, road test, etc. How would Mexico know she’s qualified to drive?

US police officer resigns after wrongfully arresting undocumented teen
Leslie O’Neal of Georgia pulled over college student who then spent more than two weeks in federal immigration jail

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/25/georgia-police-officer-resigns-arrest-undocumented-student