Category: International

You Say You Want a Constitution, Well, You Know…

Posted on by documentingdescent

All apologies to the Beatles.

It’s been two weeks since “liberation day”. I can’t talk about the tariffs, the stock market, the strength of the dollar as a reserve currency, or anything like that. Anything I say will become obsolete a day later. Sometimes even later in the same day. There is no predictability to be had, if you’re trying to ascertain the state of the United States economy. Or how anything is being decided. It’s incompetence and vibes, all the way down.

So instead, let’s take a look at the state of our constitutional crisis. It’s here!

On the subject of Kilmar Abrego-Garcia, Judge Paula Xinis told the DOJ on no uncertain terms they had to facilitate his return to the United States, and out of CECOT in El Salvador. The DOJ kicked it up to the Supreme Court, who decided 9-0 that the Trump Administration did have to do so. The DOJ’s response this week has been: “No, we don’t care what you say.” Their argument is that the SCOTUS decision is unconstitutional because nobody can compel the White House to engage or not engage in any kind of diplomacy. This comes after all kinds of spurious bullshit like, “We can’t possibly put any pressure on any country, especially a Latin American one, because of our long and rich history in not intervening in the affairs of other nations.”

Sure, buddy.

The DOJ’s incompetence has been on display front and center as well – while this rebuttal was due last week, they’ve had some problems. Filings made by people not part of the case, incorrect filing procedures, the presumption that SCOTUS would side with them delaying their reply, etc. Abrego-Garcia’s own lawyer suggests that maybe some people need to be held in contempt and arrested for them to start listening. I am inclined to agree – until there’s some kind of consequence for flipping the courts the bird, there’s no reason to assume they’ll change their ways. In fact, one of the court filings from yesterday indicated as much: it advised judges not to assume good faith in DOJ court filings, including an admonition not to believe them without external proof. I cannot stress how insane it is to tell the courts: “Hey, the Department of Justice is probably just always gonna be full of shit for the foreseeable future.”

So where does this leave Abrego-Garcia? Well, courts can deputize their own marshals to enforce the law, if the DOJ refuses to adhere to commands. Obviously, this hasn’t happened a whole lot in the history of the United States, but it’s something they can do. I’m not sure if they will, however.

Senator Chris Van Hollen has announced he’s going to go to El Salvador to try and secure Abrego-Garcia’s release, and he’ll be joined by several other lawmakers. I suppose it’s something, but I’d like to see some DOJ, ICE, and DHS people thrown in jail for being a bunch of smug assholes ignoring the courts.

I don’t think it’ll have much of an effect, since President Trump met with President Bukele yesterday and flat out both said Abrego-Garcia isn’t coming home. What’s more, Trump told Bukele to build five more CECOT type installations so that the United States can start shipping out “homegrown” folks.

You know, citizens.

Get Ready for Citizen Deportations

Posted on by documentingdescent

What did I tell you? Didn’t I say the Trump admin wouldn’t stop at visa holders or green card holders? That they’d come for citizens of the United States of America? I did, in fact, say just that, talking about Mahmoud Khalil.

Trump talked wanting to deport citizens just today. He said he’d love to send citizens to El Salvador if it was legal, and Bukele would love to accept them. He even said the following:

“I don’t know what the law says on that, but I can’t imagine the law would say anything different. If they can house these horrible criminals for a lot less money than it costs us, I’m all for it, but I would only do according to the law.”

Note this phrasing: he’s already priming his goons to believe that the law would be okay with this, by saying he ‘can’t imagine’ the law saying anything different. Of course he would only follow the law, but we’ve all seen exactly how much he respects the law – not just as a president, but as a human being.

Sure, buddy.

Karoline Leavitt also decided to chime in on how totally normal it would be to deport citizens to El Salvador, and that it would only be used on “the worst people”. Sure, lady. I absolutely believe this line of bullshit as much as every other line of bullshit you’ve spouted in your position. May you be hounded for the rest of your days by wrathful people with hate in their heart. I don’t generally like embedding social media into posts, but WordPress doesn’t seem to like embedded MP4s.

Karoline Leavitt confirms the Trump Administration wants to deport AMERICAN CITIZENS to El Salvador.

[image or embed]

— David Leavitt 🔜 #PaxEast (@davidleavitt.bsky.social) April 8, 2025 at 11:56 AM

Let’s be clear here on two issues.

One, it is not deportation when someone is moved to a country they are not a citizen of. It is kidnapping or rendition. Deportation explicitly means moving people to their country of origin or a country they have citizenship in, if they have multiple citizenships.

Two, United States law expressly forbids removing citizens of the USA to other countries. Citizens cannot be denied entry into the United States or removed from it against their will. Naturally, Trump does not give two shits about this, but it bears mentioning.

I guess we’ll see how far down the madness hole people are willing to let this admin go.

Liberation Day

Posted on by documentingdescent

So today is Liberation Day, as Trump calls it. The Terrible Day of the Tariff. No PDF links to articles about this because it’s happening in real time and most publications are either just announcing the tariffs or they’re doing minute by minute updates I won’t keep up with because when do I stop and post this? I’ll have to add some stuff later if it’s pertinent.

Trump’s tariffed the fuck out of pretty much everybody in the most idiotic way possible: he’s looked at the percentage trade deficit with any given nation, halved that percentage, and announced that’s a new tariff. For countries like Canada, China, Mexico, this is on top of other tariffs already levied.

This is not an intelligent way to add tariffs. Not that they’re too smart to begin with. For instance, he tariffed the Indian Ocean and Associated Territories (or whatever it’s called). The only thing there that’s inhabited and has contact with the outside world (the Andaman Island natives, for instance, do not have contact) is Diego Garcia Island. Home to a joint US/UK military base.

We tariffed our own fucking military base, because Trump and his cabinet are fundamentally unserious people.

It is hard to overstate how much this is gonna fuck the average consumer in the USA. Certain businesses – board games, for instance – may be rendered entirely unable to make a profit for the forseeable future, for instance; one designer estimated their board game would have to sell for $225 to make the same profit as before, due to being printed in China.

The Senate Democrats managed to convince four republicans – Collins, Murkowski, Paul, and McConnell – to break with their party and vote to repeal Trump’s emergency powers to levy tariffs. It’ll still need to be voted on in the House, so good luck there. Democrats are going to try to force a vote, but if they can’t, we likely won’t see an end to this bullshit before 2026.

Why? Well, on March 17 or 18, the House Republicans decided to have a vote to say a “calendar day” is not a real day that passes for purposes of expiring Trump’s “national emergencies” that grant him tariff power. They did this explicitly, by their own admission, to prevent such a vote.

Good job, jackasses.

In better news, Musk failed to get Schimel elected to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, despite his $20 million in donations to sway voting. Good job, Wisconsin!

ICE Revokes Immigration Status for Students; Newsom is a Dirtbag

Posted on by documentingdescent

This morning, it was discovered that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement has been revoking visas for students across the country manually, rather than leaving that decision to universities, as is the norm. While Zeteo suggests the students and universities were not notified, this does not seem to be the case. In an article I haven’t linked, several hundred received notification to self-deport this morning. It is unclear if more visas were revoked than the 300 Zeteo reports, but those 300 seem to have been notified.

These visa revocations are tied to the visa provision preventing “interference in foreign policy”. In the cases Zeteo and other outlets reviewed, this interference was little more than social media activity. In some cases, merely sharing a post critical of US policy was sufficient for revocation.

California Governor Gavin Newsom decried the ‘toxicity’ of the Democratic Party on Friday, in an interview with Bill Maher. He said the party was ‘too judgmental’ and that it ‘needs to mature’. Rich words coming from a guy who’s busily doing a total 180 on positions held for years, probably in an effort to swing right in prep for a run for President. For instance, after hosting noted white supremacist and shitbag Charlie Kirk on his podcast, he performed an encore lap by inviting Steve Bannon on.

Newsom’s descent into dirtbag is well underway; it’s hard to exaggerate just how much he’s alienating his base in California in his efforts to court the entirely mythical swing Republican vote. Any Californian can tell you, the Republicans in this state hate his ass passionately – a drive up or down I-5 will plaster your eyes with anti-Newsom signage. Even Democrats in California have basically only been tolerating him, since he’s largely ineffectual. He exemplifies the bog-standard Big Donor Democrat stereotype, with no real policy positions at any given moment other than what’s politically expedient. He’s also totally in bed with PG&E, and has utterly failed to reform them after the massive fires their collapsing infrastructure has caused.

Democrats want a fighter and someone who will stand up to fascists, not someone who will invite them on to their podcast, agree with them, and be the most milquetoast politician while doing so.

In Wisconsin, Appellate court judge Andrew Voigt denied AG Josh Kaul’s lawsuit which is attempting to stop Elon Musk’s 1 million dollar voting giveaway; Kaul has already appealed the ruling. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find Voigt’s rationale for his refusal.

In international news, Ecuador is preparing for the arrival of United States military aid in Manta by building a new military base there. This is of particular interest to me, as I have a lot of friends in Latin America, and I work with a lot of people whose families are from Latin America. Ecuador is in a somewhat precarious position both geographically and politically. Geographically, coastal cities like Guayaquil are perfect for international narco trade, and former president Rafael Correa’s closure of the previous base in Manta encouraged the narcos to move into the country from Peru and Colombia. This was further exacerbated by FARC ending operations in Colombia, which was kind of policing the southern border with Ecuador. My friends in Colombia (Medellin and Barranquilla) have said the government is still making life difficult for the Colombian narcos, so moving their goods through Ecuador is easier.

Currently President Daniel Noboa is facing off in a special election with candidate Luisa Gonzalez, who’s the protégé of former president Correa. I suspect this base is a play to swing votes toward himself and away from Gonzalez, as the country is still dealing with some serious gang violence.