American Politics

Even one of Trump's favorite Repub "Tops" could not deny it:

[B]Donald Trump Just 'Technically' Violated the Law; Lindsey Graham.[/B]

[URL]https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-lindsey-graham-inspectors-general-firing-2020984[/URL]

[QUOTE]Inspectors general are independent officials within federal agencies who investigate claims of waste, fraud and abuse of power. They conduct audits, evaluations, and special reviews, among other responsibilities.

According to Reuters, 17 inspectors general at various agenciesincluding the State, Defense and Transportation departmentsreceived emails from the White House on Friday informing them that their posts had been terminated immediately.[/QUOTE]My my my. It is almost as if Trump is planning an orgy of good old fashioned Classic Repub Waste, Fraud and Abuse in his 2nd term to exceed that in his 1st term, which is really, really, really saying a lot!

BTW, what has been happening lately to the price of gas, eggs, groceries, damn I'm glad Trump invented that word, rent, mortgage loan rates, prescription drugs, shipped items in Walmart, Target, etc, etc, etc?

[QUOTE=FlawlessZeal;2978745]Generally speaking, crossing the border without being inspected / admitted (e. G. Swimming across Rio Grande) is a crime (usually misdemeanor), overstaying a work / tourist visa is a civil infraction, not a crime. TMYK.[/QUOTE]That's true. So much of it depends on how you entered in the first place. If you entered illegally then you committed a crime and you're a criminal. If you entered lawfully with a visa and overstay then that's a civil offense. But what if you overstay and are ordered to be removed but don't voluntarily leave (as many people don't)? Instead you try to hide and keep working, etc? Now you can be considered a fugitive of the law and arrested and forcibly removed (deported) versus being allowed to voluntarily leave. So yes, it's true that you're not necessarily a criminal just because you're unlawfully present. So many different circumstances come into play that need to be considered. But the bottom line is that whether it's a civil or criminal violation, the person doesn't belong here and needs to leave (voluntarily or forcibly through deportation) unless granted legal status: [URL]https://youtu.be/mUuCAUkl3vc?si=KI_brOV0e1BddHZ2[/URL].

The depravity of the J6 insurrectionists and it's supporters, is a disgusting reflection on just how bad MAGA has become.

So when Michael Fanone, a now retired Capital Policeman, that was attacked and injured by J6 insurrectionists, and now tells us how J6 insurrection supporters, [i][b]have been throwing shit/feces at his mother, while she'd been raking leaves in her front yard,[/b][/i] really reveals the depths of depravity and moral bankruptcy of MAGA nation.

Speaking of depravity and moral bankruptcy, America's Hitler, has just pardoned, yet another dirtbag in Ross Ulbricht, the prison lifer and uber criminal and creator of a dark web drug den and killers for hire marketplace, known as Silk Road. A place where buyers and sellers could coalesce in illegal and criminal transactions, anonymously. Dubbed a [i][b]"Kingpin of a worldwide digital underground drug trafficking enterprise"[/b][/i]

So much for rooting out violent crimes and keeping killers, death dealers, narcotics, fentanyl, drugs and drug dealers out of society and "off the streets and borders of America" (be they digital or otherwise).

[QUOTE=MarquisdeSade1;2951527] So how many young Americans do you think Ulbricht, that scumbag Libertarians love so much killed selling drugs? [/QUOTE]
Well MDS1, how the hell do you square yet another lowlife pardon from Trump? Or perhaps you can't square such a heinous pardon, from your sellout, paid and bought for hire, 'two-faced' president?

But wait for it, MDS1...queue the Ross Ulbricht sympathizers, telling us what a "righteous" and "just" pardon this was for the dirtbag Libertarian "Kingpin digital drug/death dealer"!

Yes, no respect from Trump for police who protected Capitol versus Trump savages. I think to remember one policeman even died on this sad day for USA democracy. Seem many in USA want to resist to Trump decisions. I m sad for USA women he doesn't respect.

[QUOTE=Spidy;2978812]Speaking of depravity and moral bankruptcy, America's Hitler, has just pardoned, yet another dirtbag in Ross Ulbricht, the prison lifer and uber criminal and creator of a dark web drug den and killers for hire marketplace, known as Silk Road. A place where buyers and sellers could coalesce in illegal and criminal transactions, anonymously. Dubbed a [i][b]"Kingpin of a worldwide digital underground drug trafficking enterprise"[/b][/i]

So much for rooting out violent crimes and keeping killers, death dealers, narcotics, fentanyl, drugs and drug dealers out of society and "off the streets and borders of America" (be they digital or otherwise).


Well MDS1, how the hell do you square yet another lowlife pardon from Trump? Or perhaps you can't square such a heinous pardon, from your sellout, paid and bought for hire, 'two-faced' president?

But wait for it, MDS1...queue the Ross Ulbricht sympathizers, telling us what a "righteous" and "just" pardon this was for the dirtbag Libertarian "Kingpin digital drug/death dealer"![/QUOTE]Because Trump was tried in the same court room. Honestly, the media coverage of this was so bad that I cannot blame your outrage. You have to read alternative sources to get to the truth.

[URL]https://freemansperspective.com/why-ross-ulbricht-must-be-pardoned/[/URL]

First of all, it was politically driven, and openly. (See here and here.) That's not a good thing, especially because it poisoned the jury pool.

Next, the FBI flatly lied about how they found Silk Road's server. See here. What they really did was almost certainly parallel construction, which is simply a way to lie to the court.

A mere two months before Ulbricht's arrest, the lead DHS investigator swore under oath that Mark Karpeles of Mt. Gox (rather than Ross) was the person running the Silk Road site. The jury, however, wasn't allowed to know this.

Around the same time, two federal agents investigating the case pled guilty to corruption related to it. But again the jury wasn't allowed to know.

The government spied on Ulbricht's Internet traffic (along with others who used the same router) without showing probable cause and without a warrant, which again became a non-issue.

Murder-for-hire charges were manufactured by federal agents then massively publicized, which poisoned public opinion, and along with it (again) the jury pool. These flamboyant charges, however, were never tried, never proved, and were quietly dropped as the case proceeded.

The defense very early admitted that Ross had created the Silk Road service, but maintained that he had handed it off to others when it got too big for him to operate himself. (Ross was a physicist, not a programmer.)

That same afternoon, I was blown away by the judge announcing that she had altered the trial transcript over the weekend. This is something that simply cannot be done in an American court, and yet, at the highly prestigious US District Court at 500 Pearl Street in lower Manhattan, I listened to a judge announce that she had done precisely that. The judge sat in her high perch and said this (which is fairly close to verbatim):

Last Thursday when agent Der-Yeghiayan was testifying under cross examination, I thought the prosecutors could have objected more. And so, over the weekend, I edited the trial transcript and removed all the testimony that could have been objected to.

The prosecution's forensic evidence, provided by an FBI agent, was far below any professional level. The tools used were bad choices, and when the metadata (the times and dates you see when you open File Manager) are exactly the same for every file, it's inescapably clear that they've been altered.

The most pathetic moment came when the prosecutors forced one of Ross's old friends to testify that Ross asked his advice when building the Silk Road site. He was testifying only because he'd be thrown in jail if he didn't, making the emotions surrounding the moment a horrifying mix of pity (the man looked like he had been tortured, minus the bruises) and disgust with a man betraying his friend to a horrible fate.

Now I'll get back to the question I asked at the beginning of this article: If you think what Ross did was a punishable offense, what sort of penalty should have been applied?

Whatever your answer, I suspect it doesn't match what the judge handed down: Ross was given as a first time, nonviolent offender who is loved by everyone who knows him two life sentences plus 40 years.

Again you'll make up your own mind, but to me that's not justice, it's a head on a pike being paraded around the castle.

End of link.

So, yeah, this was the same as the Trump case in the same locale. It is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt not guilty if you suspect someone committed a crime. And like with Trump, liars were allowed to testify and people who were telling the truth and would have cast doubt on the guilt of the accused were excluded.

I think what really got me is the federal agents corruption. They pocketed about a $1 million apiece in Bitcoin and were caught. At that point, the entire motivation for LE IMO becomes suspect. Was getting the right guy their motivation or was it lining their pockets? To me, that is huge reasonable doubt, and I am not sure they got the right guy.

[QUOTE=IamLookin;2978725]I hope Colmbia returns the favor and arrest all the Americans living in Colombia with expired or no visas the same way. Treat them like prisoners. Handcuff them and board them on military planes. I am sure you would agree with that treatment. Right?[/QUOTE]If American criminals illegally entered into Colombia then there is no issue. Your comparison is apples to oranges.

Not illegally entered but overstayed their visit.

Then subsequently arrested by the Colombian police, placed in a Colombian prison and handcuffed on board a Colombian military aircraft back to the USA.

What a show that would be! Just like Trump putting on a show.

[QUOTE=ElPostino;2978834]If american criminals illegally entered into Colombia then there is no issue. Your comparison is apples to oranges.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Gabacho;2978750]Actually I don't have a problem with it at all, if they are breaking the law then cuff them. They can start by arresting the loud mouth gringo retirees that are always sitting on the benches by the church being loud and obnoxious.[/QUOTE]I am a USA Citizen. Totally agree with arresting USA Citizens overstaying past their visa if over 6 months.

Totally hate those same POS foreigners that sit on the benches making the rest of us look horribly bad.

[QUOTE=Spidy;2978812]The depravity of the J6 insurrectionists and it's supporters, is a disgusting reflection on just how bad MAGA has become.
If there's any silver lining, he's a man of his word (unfortunately in this case), Promises made promises kept!!
The fact that Libertarians love drug dealers that kill Americans speaks volumes, but I already know what they are all about (Chas Koch et al)

So when Michael Fanone, a now retired Capital Policeman, that was attacked and injured by J6 insurrectionists, and now tells us how J6 insurrection supporters, [i][b]have been throwing shit/feces at his mother, while she'd been raking leaves in her front yard,[/b][/i] really reveals the depths of depravity and moral bankruptcy of MAGA nation.

Speaking of depravity and moral bankruptcy, America's Hitler, has just pardoned, yet another dirtbag in Ross Ulbricht, the prison lifer and uber criminal and creator of a dark web drug den and killers for hire marketplace, known as Silk Road. A place where buyers and sellers could coalesce in illegal and criminal transactions, anonymously. Dubbed a [i][b]"Kingpin of a worldwide digital underground drug trafficking enterprise"[/b][/i]
[/QUOTE]He should not have been pardoned, he should of been executed!!

[URL]https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/27/opinion/trump-immigration-jan6-pardons.html[/URL]

Opinion.

The Conversation.

Trump Explodes Out of the Gate.

Jan. 27,2025.

Donald and Melania Trump, seen from behind, watch a huge display of fireworks lighting up the sky in red and yellow.

Credit. Pool photo by Alex Brandon.

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Gail CollinsBret Stephens.

By Gail Collins and Bret Stephens.

Ms. Collins and Mr. Stephens are Opinion columnists. They converse every week.

Bret Stephens: Gail, Donald Trump has been back in office for a week, though it seems like a decade. Do you feel (a) outraged and ready to do battle, (b) disoriented and listless, (c) eager to read, finally, all 12 volumes of Anthony Powell's "A Dance to the Music of Time"?

Gail Collins: Bret, my normal ritual when I've got a little bit of downtime is to just call up a TV news channel to catch up on what's going on. Since the election, I've had so much trouble dealing with reality, I call up the Game Show Network and listen to ordinary Americans trying to guess the name of the governor of Utah or which breeds of dog have no tail.

Bret: Who is Spencer Cox? And what is the English bulldog?

Gail: Bravo. You've put your finger on the challenge of American citizenship in 2025: Don't let Donald Trump push you into despair.

Bret: he isn't. Dirty little secret, Gail: I'm feeling mostly OK, even with Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon and threats of stupid trade wars with our allies. Trump may be a very blunt instrument, but we're a country in need of disruption. The important conversation we should have now is how to disrupt wisely, not how to defend norms for norms' sake in the face of Trump's norm bending.

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Gail: Bret, if we'the elected some virtuous Republican like — oh, I don't know, it's your job to pick one — we would be talking about finding ways to improve education, health care, support for the needy that actually involved making services more efficient. But the folks we're watching here want to slash taxes, creating huge deficits that would, by design, increase pressure to slash services.

Bret: Slash taxes? Slash services? Gail, I think you're describing me. Federal spending was just north of $4 trillion eight years ago, when I joined The Times. Now it's over $7 trillion. That's a 75 percent increase. Where does all that money go? Is all of it being well spent? Do agencies that expect their budgets to grow year in, year out, no matter how they perform have any incentive to manage costs or improve performance? Do any people with government jobs ever get laid off, as they do in the private sector, simply because a department has grown too bloated? Have people's needs really increased by that much in a few years — especially if the Biden economy was as terrific as Joe Biden claimed it was? Or is this just out-of-control spending and an establishment that refuses to apply the reins?

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Gail: Ah, Bret, we're back to our oldest argument. The budget hikes are partly the effect of the Covid pandemic, and we can hope that'll fall off — if the economy continues to recover the way it did under Biden. People's needs are rising because the population is aging. A responsible administration would be obsessed with finding ways to pay for the inevitable increasing need for services.

Bret: I was in California over the weekend, where residents pay the highest state income taxes in the country and get mediocre services, at best. Americans would rally to a serious Democrat — think of Gavin Newsom and then conjure the exact opposite — who acknowledges that incompetent government and exorbitant taxes are serious problems while insisting there's a better way to tackle it than the blow-it-all-up approach that Trump seems to want to adopt.

Speaking of which, any thoughts on Trump's orders ending the. E. I. Programming in the federal government?

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Gail: The idea that government agencies should try to stress diversity, equity and inclusion in hiring decisions was heir to the historic fight for desegregation in civil service. Reformers argued that Americans of all races tended to do well if they came from middle-class families with ties to their communities and that the next step should be programs to open up educational and employment opportunities for everybody else.

Seems very appropriate that the administration pushing back is one that tends to regard political loyalty as the most important criterion for almost any job.

Bret: The central problem with the. E. I. Is neither diversity nor inclusion. It's the word "equity," which in theory ought to mean simple fairness but in practice meant pervasive racial and gender gerrymandering based almost exclusively — and unconstitutionally — on considerations of group identity rather than individual qualifications. It also led to the creation of the. E. I. Bureaucracies in thousands of institutions, from universities to corporations, whose employees too often acted as Soviet-style political commissars, enforcing all kinds of intrusive orthodoxies that tried to dictate not only how other employees or students were supposed to act but also how they were supposed to think and speak.

Anyone who has sat through a the. E. I. Training seminar — by turns saccharine and scolding, treacly and tendentious — knows what I mean. It just turned people off, including a lot of well-meaning people who are all for inclusivity as a value. Trump getting rid of it is the best thing he's done in office so far, as far as I'm concerned. What would you say is the worst?

Gail: So many options. But for something whose awfulness transcends regular partisan politics, I'the have to go for pardoning the Jan. 6 rioters, some of whom assaulted police officers and brought guns into the Capitol. You?

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Bret: You're right, the list is so long. The Jan. 6 pardons were awful. So was the pardon of Ross Ulbricht, the founder of an online drug market. Withdrawing Secret Service protections for Mike Pompeo and John Bolton and other former members of his administration is disgraceful and will haunt him if Iran makes good on its efforts to kill them. The sale of Trump crypto tokens is tawdry and unethical, at best, though very much on brand for the purveyor of Trump Steaks.

Gail: Love that one.

Bret: The effort to revoke birthright citizenship and overturn 160 years of jurisprudence on the 14th Amendment is abominable, though I was glad to see a Reagan-appointed federal judge immediately denounce the move as "blatantly unconstitutional" and temporarily block it. Looking forward to the Supreme Court following the judge's lead, 9 to 0.

Gail: Yes! Yes!

Bret: We should not have Hegseth as defense secretary; in fact, we should never have a defense secretary who can't get a single member of the opposing party to vote for him. And the idea that Elon Musk has an office in the White House when he has billions of dollars of business before the federal government is appalling.

I'm probably forgetting something, but yeah, there's a lot not to like. And yet ——.

Gail: Oh, no, don't "and yet" me.

Bret: Two things about that "and yet":

First, I don't think everything Trump has done is terrible, by any stretch. As I said, I'm happy to see the. E. I. Done for in government. I'm glad he'll do more to support domestic energy production. (Among other good effects, it hurts Vladimir Putin.) I think Marco Rubio is going to be an effective secretary of state. I'll cheer if the Trump administration sanctions the kangaroo court known as the I. See. See. If the Department of Government Efficiency gets rid of failing government agencies, so much the better. And if Trump can ensure American dominance of the artificial intelligence industry — and the energy we need to supply it — great. I want to be open to the possibility of good things.

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Gail: We're going to be fighting about the energy thing forever, but I continue to be sure that future generations, trapped in an overheated, air-polluted, water-short world, will look back with horror on the time an American president said he didn't believe in global warming and ginned up oil drilling.

I suspect you have a second.

Bret: Second, I just don't think all the po-faced disapproval of Trump achieves anything. Like it or not, you and I and the rest of America are locked into this movie theater for the next four years. Pass the popcorn.

Gail: We may be stuck with him, but we've got to keep fighting the good fight. Have to admit I've started just going off to movies on my own, in the middle of the afternoon, to avoid Trump-think. Watching the Bob Dylan biopic was a great distraction from the cabinet nominees.

Seen anything good lately? Yes, I'm trying to change the subject.

Bret: On the flight to California I made myself watch "Reagan," a biopic starring Dennis Quaid as the 40th president. The film was so cringingly conceived, so badly acted, so imbecilically scripted and so moronically executed that it briefly turned me, a Reagan fan, into a communist. But I am keen to see the Dylan biopic, along with "The Brutalist," which I hear is terrific.

And speaking of terrific, Gail, be sure to read Andy Webster's obituary for Jules Feiffer, the great Village Voice cartoonist who died this month at 95. I can't say I was always in tune with Feiffer's politics, but I always loved his honesty, originality, artfulness and playfulness. He captured my kind of people: smart, neurotic, concerned, confused, unmistakably Jewish New Yorkers. And he never quit. When he was asked last year after the publication of a graphic novel for middle-schoolers whether he had a new project, he replied: "What a foolish question. Of course. ".

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Gail: Oh, Bret, I have to tell you — when I was named the Opinion editor back in the day, Feiffer sent me a drawing of a very happy Feifferesque ballerina with the title "A Dance to Gail. " Not sure we had ever even met in person, but that picture has been on my wall ever since.

Thanks so much for letting me finish with a tribute to Jules.

[QUOTE=SubCmdr;2978778]Do you support illegal immigration?

I did not see one single word where you addressed the fact that the individuals on the plane were in the United States of America without proper permission from immigration authorities. That means they were breaking the law. That for me is the bottom line. Everywhere I go in the world I have to follow the immigration rules. Why are the people of Colombia different?[/QUOTE]Not only is it legal for undocumented immigrants claiming to seek asylum to be here, it is not automatically a crime to be an undocumented immigrant anyway:

[B]Is Being an Undocumented Immigrant a Crime?[/B]

[URL]https://www.dharlawllp.com/is-being-an-undocumented-immigrant-a-crime/[/URL]

[QUOTE]Are you an undocumented immigrant? Have you been accused of a crime? Please remember that you still have constitutional rights, including the right to counsel if accused of a crime. When people are accused of a crime they are often unaware that they even have these legal rights. [B]Also being undocumented is not a crime.[/b][/QUOTE]However, I do sincerely wish and pray that every American who passes by a farm and suspects there are undocumented migrants working on that farm to please for the love of God report them to the authorities so Trump can round them up, herd them onto the biggest and most expensive military aircraft on the planet, fly them over their home country, be refused landing, fly them back to the USA, harbor them there for a few days, fly them back over their home country, rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat, all while Trump is hopping up and down Yosimite Sam mad at whatever failed Trump golf resort he happens to be at that day, droning on in his hilarious "menacing" monotone about imposing 25%-200% Trump Tariffs on the American Consumer.

The same with all the suspected restaurant workers, hotel workers, janitorial and trash collection workers, construction workers, auto mechanics, child care service workers, maids, everyone and everything, everywhere all at once.

In fact, I am damned pissed that Trump did not get 'er done on Day One like he promised for the past 4 years. By now, one full unproductive golf-filled week into it, there ought to be NO undocumented immigrants performing any jobs anywhere in the USA!

I want the American people to get absolutely everything Trump promised them and for which they either voted or permitted to come about by not voting for Kamala Harris and every other Dem up and down their ballot.

They should get exactly that ASAP because they oh so richly deserve it.

[QUOTE]John Choon Yoo, a law professor at University of California at Berkeley, told Newsweek in an email on Saturday: "President Trump is well within his power to remove members of the executive branch at will. In Seila Law v. CFPB (2020), the Supreme Court held that Congress could not protect officers of the United States from removal by the President...In Seila Law, the Court said that the only officers that Congress might be able to protect are those that are members of multi-body commissions, like the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) or the (SEC) Securities and Exchange Commission."
He added: "[b]The Inspectors General do not have that status[/b]; they are simple members of the executive branch agencies. Even if Congress attempts to place conditions on their removal, those conditions are unconstitutional. Any Inspector General that attempts to challenge their removal in courtthey would still have to leave office and just sue for back paywill be wasting their money in lawyers fees."[/QUOTE]What do you make of the above? I am not an attorney. Technicalities are a wonderful thing. But can you make the case in court given the precedent of the Supreme Court ruling [B]Seila Law v CFPB (2020)[/B]?

[QUOTE=EihTooms;2978795][B]Donald Trump Just 'Technically' Violated the Law; Lindsey Graham.[/B]

[URL]https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-lindsey-graham-inspectors-general-firing-2020984[/URL][/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=IamLookin;2978840]Not illegally entered but overstayed their visit.
Then subsequently arrested by the Colombian police, placed in a Colombian prison and handcuffed on board a Colombian military aircraft back to the USA.
What a show that would be! Just like Trump putting on a show.[/QUOTE]I echo you. The verbal violence of some posters against those illegal immigrants treated as dangerous criminals really speaks by itself and says a lot.

Incidentally, the word "criminal" was used not by myself first. I wish the one who wrote it first would have attempted a definition. It is worth mentioning that the hobby practiced by me and (I assume) all members of this ISG forum is against the Law in the USA. Therefore, the US Army veteran who started this discussion is doing illegal things. Technically speaking, a "criminal"? Subject to a similar treatment?

[QUOTE=BlackPage;2978877]I echo you. The verbal violence of some posters against those illegal immigrants treated as dangerous criminals really speaks by itself and says a lot.

Incidentally, the word "criminal" was used not by myself first. I wish the one who wrote it first would have attempted a definition. It is worth mentioning that the hobby practiced by me and (I assume) all members of this ISG forum is against the Law in the USA. Therefore, the US Army veteran who started this discussion is doing illegal things. Technically speaking, a "criminal"? Subject to a similar treatment?[/QUOTE]There's a big difference. You're not talking apples to apples and oranges to oranges. We're not going to a foreign country and breaking their laws. Prostitution is legal in Colombia. It might be considered criminal activity in the States, but we're not doing it in the States. At least I'm not! Not the same difference bro.

Entire page spent on immigration policy and politics. Lets back on track to talking about girls and info about mongering related issues!

[QUOTE=TheCane;2978881]There's a big difference. You're not talking apples to apples and oranges to oranges. We're not going to a foreign country and breaking their laws. Prostitution is legal in Colombia. It might be considered criminal activity in the States, but we're not doing it in the States. At least I'm not! Not the same difference bro.[/QUOTE]I get your point, but US Moral often makes apples and oranges to look as bananas (I mean that).

Basically, someone travels abroad to be free to engage in what is a crime at home country, and therefore does not consider himself a "criminal", but at the same time is very strict in pointing the finger to those who do something illegal where he lives. Fine with many, maybe.