Author Archives: M

Newsweek: Supreme Court to hear JD Vance case

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The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a Republican-led challenge to a federal campaign finance law provision that limits how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates. The case, which centers on free speech claims, involves Vice President JD Vance, who was a U.S. Senate candidate in Ohio when the lawsuit was initiated.

The justices took up an appeal from Vance and two Republican committees, contesting a lower court’s decision that upheld the spending limits. The challengers argue the restrictions violate constitutional protections by capping party spending influenced by input from supported candidates.

How dare they deprive the wealthy of their God-given right to purchase election results!

DNC Chair Ken Martin, DSCC Chair Kirsten Gillibrand, and DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene said in a statement: “We refuse to sit on the sidelines as Trump’s DOJ and the Republican Party attempt to throw out longstanding election laws for their own benefit. Republicans know their grassroots support is drying up across the country, and they want to drown out the will of the voters.

Supreme Court to hear JD Vance case
The case, which centers on free speech claims, involves VP Vance, who was a Senate candidate in Ohio when the lawsuit was initiated.

https://www.newsweek.com/supreme-court-jd-vance-campaign-finance-ohio-case-2092657

Center Square: Administration responds to ‘promotion’ of anti-ICE app

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An app called ICEBlock designed to help people avoid U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents is now available for download for free in the Apple app store.

The Trump administration said the app is dangerous for federal agents enforcing federal laws.

CNN posted a video interview with the app’s designer, Joshua Aaron, a “musician and developer,” according to the network, Monday morning.

“When I saw what was happening in this country, I wanted to do something to fight back,” Aaron said.

Just like popular navigation apps rely on users’ real-time reports of car accidents or construction and then alert other users taking those routes, ICEBlock relies on users to report sightings of ICE agents and then reflects those sightings on a map. Users can be notified of all of the reported sightings within a five-mile radius.

The app contains a disclaimer that it does not “collect, store or process any personal data about you.”

“One of the core principles in the design of this app is 100% anonymity for our user base,” Aaron told CNN Tech Reporter Clare Duffy. “There is no sign-up process. There is no user data collected. There is no user data even captured by our app.”

Aaron told Duffy that there were already 20,000 users by the time of the interview.

And of course the dumbest woman in America, White House press secretary Karoline “Bimbo #1” Leavitt, is whining:

“I’ll have to go back and watch the clip myself, but surely it sounds like this would be an incitement of further violence against our ICE officers,” Leavitt said. “As you know… there’s been a 500% increase in violence against ICE agents, law enforcement officers across the country who are just simply trying to do their jobs and remove public safety threats from our communities.”

And Faux News can’t pass up an opportunity to make a false accusation against its competitor:

Fox News and others suggested that CNN was promoting the app in its coverage.

“It’s unacceptable that a major network would promote such an app that is encouraging violence against law enforcement officers who are trying to keep our country safe,” Leavitt added.

And the Head Goon himself is getting bent out of shape:

Border Czar Tom Homan appeared on Fox Across America, a national live syndicated radio talk show, later Monday afternoon to speak on the issue. Homan echoed Leavitt’s comments and said it would enable “bad guys” to escape apprehension. He also said he has enlisted the help of the Department of Justice to respond.

“It also puts ICE in an extremely dangerous position because… there’s going to be one guy that’s going to happen soon that’s laying in wait, who’s going to, you know, wait for ICE to show up and attack them. So this is a dangerous, dangerous situation,” Homan told the host. “I’ve sent that information over to DOJ. I asked them to take whatever legal action they can take to take because this is an unprecedented attack, even by a media outlet, on the safety and security of those who are trying to force laws on this country.”

At the end of the day, the First Amendment will prevail!

WATCH: Administration responds to ‘promotion’ of anti-ICE app
(The Center Square) – An app called ICEBlock designed to help people avoid U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents is now available for download for free in the Apple app

https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/article_ae793d5f-a990-4867-831f-1fc4d64df1ee.html

Guardian: Throwing their bodies on the gears: the Democratic lawmakers showing up to resist Trump

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Republicans may literally own social media platforms, but some Democrats are buying back legitimacy with protests

A flock of Ice agents, some masked, some sporting military-operator fashion for show, smooshed the New York City comptroller, Brad Lander, up against a wall and handcuffed him in the hallway of a federal courthouse in early June, shuffling the mild-mannered politician into an elevator like the Sandman hustling an act off the stage 10 miles north at Harlem’s Apollo Theater.

Like at the Apollo, Lander’s arrest was a show. News reporters and cellphone camera-wielding bystanders crowded the hall to watch the burly federal officers rumple a 55-year-old auditor asking for a warrant.

“I’m not obstructing. I’m standing here in this hallway asking for a judicial warrant,” Lander said. “You don’t have the authority to arrest US citizens.”

“This is an urgent moment for the rule of law in the United States of America and it is important to step up,” Lander told the Guardian after the arrest. “And I think the dividing line for Democrats right now is not between progressives and moderates. It’s between fighters and folders. We have to find nonviolent but insistent ways of standing up for democracy and the rule of law.”

…

“There’s a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part,” Mario Savio, a student leader in the free speech movement, a campaign of civil disobedience against restrictive policies on student political activity, said 60 years ago during a campus protest. “You can’t even passively take part. And you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop.”

…

Hannah Dugan, a Wisconsin judge, allowed a man to leave through the back doors of her courtroom, allegedly in response to the presence of immigration officers waiting to arrest him. FBI agents subsequently arrested Dugan in her Milwaukee courtroom on 25 April, charging her with obstruction.

The FBI director, Kash Patel, posted comments about her arrest on X almost immediately, and eventually posted a photograph of her arrest, handcuffed and walking toward a police cruiser, with the comment: “No one is above the law.” Digitally altered photographs of Dugan appearing to be in tears in a mugshot proliferated on social media. Trump himself reposted an image from the Libs of TikTok website of Dugan wearing a Covid-19 mask on the day of her arrest.

Three days later …

It’s long read — best to click on the link below and read the article in its entirety.

Throwing their bodies on the gears: the Democratic lawmakers showing up to resist Trump
Republicans may literally own social media platforms, but some Democrats are buying back legitimacy with protests

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/30/democrats-trump-resistance

USA Today: Vance: Medicaid cuts in Senate tax bill ‘immaterial’ compared to ICE increases

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In a series of social media posts, Vice President JD Vance said the cost of the GOP spending bill, including the effect of the largest cuts to Medicaid in history, are “immaterial” compared to the money he says it will save through expanded funding for immigration enforcement.

“The thing that will bankrupt this country more than any other policy is flooding the country with illegal immigration and then giving those migrants generous benefits. The (bill) fixes this problem. And therefore it must pass,” Vance said in a June 30 post on the social media site X, a few hours before he cast the tie-breaking vote to move the spending bill back to the House.

“Everything else ‒ the (Congressional Budget Office) score, the proper baseline, the minutiae of the Medicaid policy ‒ is immaterial compared to the ICE money and immigration enforcement provisions,” he said in a second post.

This assumes that “illegal” immigrants contribute nothing to the economy, which is totally false. Removing “illegal” immigrants will cause a net loss of hundreds of billions of dollars for California alone (not to mention other states), and it is on top of that loss that millions of Americans will be losing their health insurance.

J.D. Dunce is a f*ck*ng sh*t for brains disgrace. Nobody in Greenland wanted them over for lunch, and I wouldn’t either.

Vance: Medicaid cuts in Senate tax bill ‘immaterial’ compared to ICE increases
Vice President JD Vance said cuts to Medicaid and budget impacts in the Senate tax bill don’t compare to the importance of ICE spending.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/07/01/vance-medicaid-cuts-ice-spending-tax-bill/84429757007

Charlotte Observer: ‘Victory’: DHS Praises SCOTUS Ruling on Deportations

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The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled to allow the Trump administration to fast-track deportations to third countries like Sudan without notice or a chance to contest. The 6-3 ruling drew dissent from Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, who warned it risks torture or death for deportees.

This is simply inhumane. And it will come back to haunt us big time.

…

Sotomayor wrote, “The government has made clear in word and deed that it feels itself unconstrained by law, free to deport anyone anywhere without notice or an opportunity to be heard.”

As some countries have refused deportees, the administration has utilized third-country agreements. Immigrant advocates warned the Supreme Court ruling weakens due process and risks deportees’ safety.

 Sotomayor wrote, “Apparently, the court finds the idea that thousands will suffer violence in far-flung locales more palatable than the remote possibility that a district court exceeded its remedial powers when it ordered the government to provide notice and process to which the plaintiffs are constitutionally and statutorily entitled.”

‘Victory’: DHS Praises SCOTUS Ruling on Deportations
More for You

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/victory-dhs-praises-scotus-ruling-on-deportations/ss-AA1HMtgW

Daily Beast: Florida City Ends ICE Deal Ahead of Trump’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Visit

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Key West, home to the southernmost point in the continental U.S., voted to end its cooperation agreement with ICE.

A Florida city welcomed President Donald Trump to the state Tuesday by making life harder for his ICE goons.

Hours before Trump touched down at Florida’s so-called “Alligator Alcatraz,” city commissioners in Key West voted 6-1 in favor of scrapping an agreement requiring local police to coordinate with federal immigration officials.

The vote “basically invalidated the city’s most recent agreement with ICE,” which was reached in March, reported Local 10.

“People who are seeking political asylum are important members of our community,” Commissioner Samuel Kaufman said, according to WLRN. “We have thousands of them here, by the way. And they deserve the respect that anybody else does.”

Florida’s southernmost city, less than 100 miles from the Cuban coast, is also among its most progressive. Commissioner Donald Lee said that the city’s police chief, Sean Brandenburg, signed the deal to cooperate with ICE because he had a proverbial “gun” to his head from both federal and state officials. The Florida city of Fort Myers has refused to sign an agreement, and its leaders have been threatened with removal from office.

Key West residents went into uproar last month when a beloved local hairstylist, who a city cop stopped as he rode his e-bike to work, was placed in ICE custody and detained for weeks.

Lee Stinton, a Northern Ireland national, holds an employment authorization card and has applied for a green card, according to Keys Weekly. Still, his traffic infraction reportedly warranted the involvement of ICE agents, who allegedly harassed him and tossed him in a detention center in Miami, where a Canadian citizen, 49, and a Cuban national, 75, died in custody within the last week.

…

“The ICE agent that got involved in his traffic stop—and I’m still not sure how that happened, whether he was riding with the police officer or showed up separately—saw the photo of the two of us on Lee’s phone’s lock screen, and assumed I was Haitian,” Davis said. “He asked Lee, ‘Is that your boyfriend? We’ll go find him as well and get two for one.’”

Florida City Ends ICE Deal Ahead of Trump’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Visit
Key West, home to the southernmost point in the continental U.S., voted to end its cooperation agreement with ICE.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/florida-city-ends-ice-deal-ahead-of-trumps-alligator-alcatraz-visit

ABC News: Department of Justice suing Los Angeles over sanctuary city policy

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The Department of Justice is suing the city of Los Angeles over its sanctuary city policy, alleging it interferes with the enforcement of federal immigration laws, officials announced on Monday.

“The challenged law and policies of the City of Los Angeles obstruct the Federal Government’s enforcement of federal immigration law and impede consultation and communication between federal, state, and local law enforcement officials that is necessary for federal officials to carry out federal immigration law and keep Americans safe,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit is targeting Ordinance Number 188441, which prohibits city resources, including personnel, from being used for immigration enforcement. The DOJ is seeking a permanent injunction barring the city from enforcing the ordinance.

Big waste of time and money — the Tenth Amendment (separation of powers) says the federal government can’t hijack state or local governments to do their bidding.

Department of Justice suing Los Angeles over sanctuary city policy
The lawsuit is targeting Ordinance Number 188441, which prohibits city resources, including personnel, from being used for immigration enforcement.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/doj-suing-los-angeles-sanctuary-city-policy/story?id=123348526

Straight Arrow News: ICE raids surge, but few employers face charges

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According to The Washington Post, a spokesperson with the Justice Department said in a statement: “Under President Trump and Attorney General Bondi’s leadership, the Department of Justice will enforce federal immigration laws and hold bad actors accountable when they employ illegal aliens in violation of federal law.”

However, almost no business owners or managers are being held legally accountable for hiring unauthorized workers. The Post conducted in-depth investigative work, reviewing legal documents and business ownership records to confirm whether any company owners or managers were charged. The Post found that despite numerous raids, just one employer was charged with a crime.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has not disclosed how many raids have resulted in employer charges. In April, ICE reported more than 1,000 arrests of migrants residing in the U.S. illegally and proposed over $1 million in fines against businesses during Trump’s first 100 days in the White House, The Post reports.

Only one employer charged, so far:

John Washburn, a company manager of San Diego Powder & Protective Coatings in El Cajon, California, was charged with knowingly employing migrant workers who reside in the country illegally. Washburn pleaded guilty, and the DOJ stated that he received one year of probation and was required to complete 50 hours of community service. He did not receive jail time.

Chad Hartmann, the manager of Glenn Valley Foods in Nebraska, will not face charges after federal immigration agents arrested 76 of his workers. According to ICE, an investigation found that about 70 migrant workers who live in the U.S. illegally at the facility were using stolen identities and Social Security numbers to get jobs and benefits. Hartmann said he believed he was hiring people authorized to work in the U.S.

As a result, over 100 real people had their identities misused, causing them serious financial, emotional and legal harm, according to an ICE press release.

It’s unusual for business owners to be prosecuted for hiring migrant workers who reside in the country illegally. To charge someone, prosecutors must prove the employer knowingly hired someone without legal work authorization. Proving what an employer knew in court can be difficult and time-consuming.

ICE raids surge, but few employers face charges
ICE workplace raids have surged under Trump, but employers hiring undocumented workers are rarely prosecuted.

https://san.com/cc/ice-raids-surge-but-few-employers-face-charges

The Hill: Opinion: The Supreme Court’s injunctions decision returns America to the constitutional horrors of Dred Scott

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In ordinary times, someone could read the Supreme Court’s decision on the legality of so-called “universal injunctions” as just the latest example of an old dispute: the proper way to interpret the Constitution and the jurisdiction of federal courts. Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s majority opinion saying the federal district courts do not have the authority to issue such injunctions is a classic in the genre of “originalism.” 

In contrast, the dissenting opinions by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson read the law through the lens not just of its origins but with an eye to how an interpretation would affect the world beyond the courtroom. They understand that these are not ordinary times and do not want to disable the judiciary from responding when fundamental rights are at stake, in the face of an ongoing assault on the rule of law itself. 

To put it simply, with its decision in Trump v. Casa, the court has become an accomplice in President Trump’s ongoing assault on our constitutional republic. The decision has effectively removed the federal courts as a check on the Trump administration.  

But it also does grave damage to the court itself — Trump v. Casa now takes its place among the high court’s most infamous rulings. As Stephen Lubet says, it returns us to the world of its discredited Dred Scott decision, which found that the rights of Black people depended on where they lived. Just like Blacks in the antebellum world who had one status in free states and another in slave states, immigrants and others may now find themselves in a legal nether land. 

The Supreme Court’s injunctions decision returns America to the constitutional horrors of Dred Scott
With its decision in Trump v. Casa, the court has become an accomplice in President Trump’s ongoing assault on our constitutional republic.

https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/5376627-supreme-court-universal-injunctions-ruling

Channel News Asia: Why countries like China, Canada and the UK have issued new warnings about US travel

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China:

On Wednesday, China warned tourists to “fully assess the risks” before travelling to the US, after Beijing raised tariffs on American imports in retaliation for similar duties imposed by Trump.

“Due to the deterioration in China-US trade relations and the domestic security situation in the United States, (we) advise Chinese tourists to fully assess the risks before travelling to the US,” Beijing’s culture and tourism ministry said in a statement.

UK:

In March, the UK revised its advice for citizens travelling to the US to include a warning that anyone found breaking its entry rules could face arrest or detention.

The current British travel advice for the US, published online by Britain’s foreign office and most recently updated on Mar 14, states: “You should comply with all entry, visa and other conditions of entry. The authorities in the US set and enforce entry rules strictly. You may be liable to arrest or detention if you break the rules.”

At the beginning of February, the guidance had only stated: “The authorities in the US set and enforce entry rules.”

The foreign office declined to comment on the reason for the revision or confirm when exactly it took place. It said its travel advice was designed to help people make decisions and that the advice was constantly kept under review.

Earlier in the month, in response to reports that a woman had been detained in the US for more than 10 days over a possible breach of her visa conditions, the foreign office confirmed that it was providing support to a British national detained in the US.

The woman has since returned to Britain.

Germany:

Similarly, in March, Germany updated its US travel advisory to emphasise that a visa or entry waiver does not guarantee entry after several Germans were detained while entering the country.

Germany’s foreign ministry updated its travel advice website for the US on Mar 11 to clarify that neither approval through the US Electronic System for Travel Authorization, or ESTA, system nor a US visa entitles entry in every case.

“The final decision on whether a person can enter the US lies with the US border authorities,” said a German foreign ministry spokesperson, who emphasised that the change did not constitute a travel warning.

Canada:

The Canadian government updated its US travel advisory on its website in March to say that those who plan to visit the US for more than 30 days “must be registered with the United States government”, NPR reported.

Those who did not do so could face “penalties fines, and misdemeanour prosecution”, the Canadian government said.

In early April, it updated its advisory again, adding a new paragraph about scrutiny at points of entry into the US, Canadian public broadcaster CBC reported.

This was done “quietly”, CBC said.

Part of the new paragraph reads: “Expect scrutiny at ports of entry, including of electronic devices. Comply and be forthcoming in all interactions with border authorities. If you are denied entry, you could be detained while awaiting deportation.”

CBC noted that US border agents had long had the power to ask to search travellers’ belongings and demand access to their electronic devices.

However, it reported that security had been stepped up at the US-Canada border, citing an immigration lawyer.

“There’s been much more heightened security and heightened investigations at the border,” the lawyer told the broadcaster.

Denmark, Finland, France, Germany:

In March, several European countries including Denmark, Finland, France and Germany suggested that transgender, non-binary and intersex people may face difficulties when trying to enter the US.

The Danish foreign ministry changed its US travel advisory to say that transgender people should contact the US embassy in the Nordic country before travelling to the United States.

“When applying for an ESTA or visa to the United States, there are two gender designations to choose from: Male or female,” the travel advisory stated on Mar 21.

“If you have the gender designation X in your passport, or you have changed your gender, it is recommended that you contact the US embassy prior to travel for guidance on how to proceed,” the ministry added.

The “X” gender marker is preferred by many non-binary people, who do not identify as strictly male or female.

While the travel advisory did not explicitly mention the Trump administration, it came only weeks after Trump signed an executive order calling for the US federal government to define sex as only male or female and for that to be reflected on official documents, such as passports, and in policies.

The US State Department has stopped issuing travel documents with the X gender marker.

The department also stopped allowing people to change the gender listed on their passports or get new ones that reflect their gender rather than their sex assigned at birth.

Finland also advised prospective US travellers on its foreign ministry homepage that if their “current gender as recorded in their passport differs from the gender they were assigned at birth, US authorities may deny (them) entry”.

“It is recommended that you check with US authorities in advance for entry requirements,” the ministry said.

France, meanwhile, modified its official advice to its nationals who are travelling to the United States, warning they must now state their gender assigned at birth in visa or ESTA applications.

In advice similar to that issued by Denmark, Germany told travellers who have the X gender entry in their passport or whose current gender entry differs from their gender entry at birth to contact a US diplomatic mission in Germany before they enter the country.

This is so that they can “find out the applicable entry requirements” for the US, the German foreign ministry said.

Why countries like China, Canada and the UK have issued new warnings about US travel
SINGAPORE: Several countries have issued new advice and warnings about travelling to the United States in recent weeks, with China joining in on Wednesday (Apr 9) by telling its citizens to “fully assess the risks” of visiting the US before they head there. Canada and European countries like the United Kin

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/us-travel-advisories-warnings-trump-china-canada-uk-immigration-tariffs-5059056