From Pine View Farm

Culture Warriors category archive

Immunity Impunity 0

My old Philly DL friend Noz has some thoughts on what must be done if the American Stasi is to redirected from their current path of trampling on rights and violating Constitutional protections.

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The Good Old Days 0

Man and woman on street corner looking at sign that reads,

Click for the original image.

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Republican Thought Police 0

In the midst of a longer article about the Trump maladministration’s attempt to white-wash America’s history, Diane Carman succintly sums up what’s going on:

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum followed through, ordering officials at national parks and historic sites across the country to replace anything that might be upsetting to visitors with “content that focuses on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people.”

But apparently only the white ones.

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American Stasi 0

MIT professor and Nobel Laureate Daron Acemoglu is not sanguine. A snippet:

Most significantly, however, by granting ICE agents de facto immunity, the Trump administration has given them a green light to ratchet up their violent tactics.

If this violence goes unchecked, it could indeed be a turning point, because it will create a template for other security forces more closely aligned with Trump to use force against any manifestation of opposition. In that case, the slide toward an authoritarian regime could become difficult to reverse, as civil society becomes prostrate in the face of mounting repression and the norms against such crackdowns become steadily eroded.

Already, the two branches of government that are supposed to check the presidency (Congress and the Supreme Court) have proven to be highly solicitous of Trump’s agenda.

Afterthought:

I question his use of the term “Trump’s agenda.” Me-me-me-me may be motivation, but I don’t think it rises to the level of “agenda.”

“Agenda” implies a coherent strategy, not an incoherent one.

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A Tune for the Times 0

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“She Was Just Following Orders” 0

David hears Kristi Noem say something that rhymes with the Nuremberg trials.

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American Stasi 0

The Brock Press (a student publication at Brock University in Canada) offers a case study in devolution:

ICE, an American case study: how democracy corrodes

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No Change Agents 0

At the The American Scholar, Robert Zaretsky writes of the theories of Austrian philosopher Karl Popper, who lived through and studied the rise of fascism in early and mid-twentieth century Europe. In the midst of a lengthy exploration of Popper’s work, Zaretsky makes what I find a trenchant observation, one which I characterizes dis coarse discourse:

Arrest all change: This is the lasting mark not of an open society, but instead a closed one. The former thrives on what Popper calls a “critical attitude,” one that reflects the principle of fallibilism: Truths are only true if they are verified through the give and take of experience and experiment. The latter, however, throttles such practices, preferring the “dogmatic” power of myths that maintain the stability of the state and the submission of its citizens.

I find his piece a timely and relevant read.

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A Tune for the Times 0

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Republican Thought Police 0

Texas Governor Abbott is upset that Texas school students have the utter unmitigated gall and effrontery to form their own opinions about the American Stasi.

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Extra-Special Bonus QOTD, American Stasi Dept. 0

David Ferguson:

If this were happeninng in any other country, it would be called ethnic cleansing.

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American Stasi 0

Farron discusses a federal judge’s asking the Trump maladministration why the heck are you doing this to justify why ICE has invaded Minnesota.

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A Notion of Immigrants 0

At NJ.com, Daysi Calavia-Robertson stands tells a tale of Republican mean for the sake of mean as she recounts the story of a legal immigrant who was snatched up by ICE and then moved from place to place, while his family and his attorney were kept in the dark as to his whereabouts.

Buried deep in the article is a plausible explanation for the mean for the sake of mean.

This constant shuffling of detainees is nothing more than a cruel game of cups — the government, once again, wantonly and inhumanely playing with people’s lives.

Harol agrees. He tells me he knows the transfers are meant to “break us down.” “To hurt us, one way or the other, to make us miss our court dates, to make us tired, or depressed, to make us want to self-deport,” he says.

The gratuitous cruelty would make the Marquis de Sade tumescent, as I’m sure it does its perpetrato–oh, never mind.

Follow the link for the details.

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American Stasi 0

Rick Strom argues that ICE should be abolished.

I’m not sure that I sure that I would go that far, but certainly those changes that have turned it into the official KKK of the USA need to be undone.

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Republican Family Values 0

ICE agent pointing a gun at a little child while saying,

Via Job’s Anger.

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Your Tax Dollars at Work 0

Teacher and students in elementary school classroom.  On the chalkboard is written,

Click for the original image.

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Still Rising Again after All These Years 0

Field looks at the actions of the Trump maladministration and decodes de code. Here’s a tiny bit from his article:

They (the Trump maladministration–ed.) have weaponized the justice department, the military, and agencies like ICE against their perceived political enemies to carry out their sick and twisted agenda.

Most of us know what the agenda is: To make America white again.

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Huddled Masses Yearning To Breathe Free 0

ICE agent putting Lady Liberty in detention next to a little child.

Via Job’s Anger.

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American Stasi 0

Grung_e_Gene, who has law enforcement training, shares his thoughts on ICE’s icing an ICU nurse in Ninneapolis.

Warning: He minces no words.

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All the News that Fits 0

Steve M. points out that the inhabitants of Trump world can’t understand why all the fuss about Trump’s ICEcapades because their world is so bubblelicious.

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