Supreme Court Taps Brakes on Trump's Gulag - The Friday AM Quickie 4/11/25
In Europe they're smashing up Teslas with sledgehammers for charity. Love that energy. Have a nice weekend! Whitney returns Monday. - Corey
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THE BIG NEWS
Disappearances: Experts Liken Trump's Illegal Idea of Deporting US Citizens 'to the Gulag'
- No Justices Dissent as Supreme Court Orders Trump to Return Salvadoran Migrant Deported on the Basis of His Chicago Bulls Hat "'The rule of law won today. Time to bring him home,' Andrew Rossman, one of Abrego Garcia's lawyers, said." via the New York Times and NBC News.
- 'Unusual Times': Lawyers for Alleged MS-13 Gang Leader Ask Justice Department Not to Drop His Case "The danger of Mr. [Henrry Josue] Villatoro Santos being unlawfully deported by ICE without due process and removed to El Salvador, where he would almost certainly be immediately detained at one of the worst prisons in the world without any right to contest his removal, is substantial," defense attorney Muhammad Elsayed wrote. via the Washington Post and Law & Crime.
- White British Man Disturbed, Confused How Tattoo Commemorating His Daughter's Birth Wound Up in US Homeland Security Gang Database "I'm just an average middle-aged man from Derbyshire," says Pete Belton, who "is now worried the family trip he booked to Miami with his wife and daughter in August might end up 'being a six month all-inclusive holiday to Guantanamo.'" via BBC News.
- ICE Declares Its Job Is to Stop Illegal 'Ideas' from Entering US "'Ideas' should have said 'intellectual property'" on the public service announcement posted yesterday to the agency's X account, a spokesperson claims. via Politico, HuffPost, and the Washington Post.
- At Homeland Security's Request, Social Security Administration Marks 6,000 Latino Migrants as Dead to Push Them to 'Self-Deport' Some "current and former Social Security officials questioned the legality of the practice, saying that adding names of people that the agency knows have not died to the death database violates privacy laws that no longer apply when someone has actually died." via the New York Times and the Washiongton Post.
- Trump Judge OK's New Homeland Security Rule Requiring Undocumented Migrants to Register Themselves Meanwhile, advocates warned that a DHS effort recruiting other federal law enforcement agencies to conduct "welfare checks" on migrant children may be aimed at deporting or frightening them. via the Associated Press and the Washington Post.
- Four House Democrats Vote with GOP to Pass SAVE Act, Trump's Illegal Poll Tax Requiring Proof of Citizenship to Vote They were "Reps. Ed Case of Hawaii, Henry Cuellar of Texas, Jared Golden of Maine and Marie [Gluesenkamp] Perez of Washington." via the AP.
- Mahmoud Khalil's Lawyers Will Seek Testimony from Marco Rubio, Who Admits the Student Protester Committed No Crime A two-page memo from Trump's Secretary of State asserts the government can deport migrants based solely on their beliefs. via the New York Times and the AP.
MORE STORIES TO WATCH
California DA Charges 12 Stanford Protesters with Felonies for Demanding Divestment from Israel
International students have been bearing the brunt of the US government crackdown on First Amendment rights, but citizens are also enduring suppression. Last June, 12 protesters for Palestinian rights allegedly broke into a Stanford University administration building, barricading themselves inside until they were arrested the same day. Yesterday Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen charged those protesters, aged 19 to 32, with felony vandalism and felony conspiracy to trespass, over allegations that they "broke windows and furniture, splashed fake blood and disabled security cameras." Rosen denies he was inspired by the Trump administration's efforts to criminalize dissent. But it sure is curious why he waited so long to file the charges, and the prosecutions still "represent among the most serious consequences for the more than 3,200 pro-Palestinian protesters arrested at 73 college campuses between April and July last year," the Los Angeles Times reports. "Dissent is American. Vandalism is criminal," Rosen says, calling his proposed punishment of the protesters "kind of biblical." Meanwhile in the United Kingdom, police arrested six Greenpeace protesters who turned the pond outside the US Embassy in London blood red with nontoxic, biodegradable dye, poured from containers stamped "Stop arming Israel."
Democrats Demand Answers on Apparent GOP Insider Trades
Following an upward surge in response to Donald Trump's announcement that he would "pause" most tariffs he imposed on other countries, stocks continued to fall yesterday. Per the New York Times, "analysts noted that even with the tariff pause, countries still faced a new blanket 10 percent tariff — already much higher than before." The long and short of it is, investors still expect prices to go up substantially and fear the economy may still tank. "Recession risks remain substantial. Uncertainty remains high," University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfers tells HuffPost. Economist Paul Krugman writes that "we may be in a worse place" now than before Trump paused his tariffs, and the risk of a financial crisis persists. United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, who initially praised Trump's tariffs, this week revised his remarks, calling them "reckless."
About that stock rally: A group of Congressional Democrats including New York Squad Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is demanding the immediate disclosure of stocks traded by any member during the period of Trump's tariff upheaval due to the strong suspicion of insider trading. Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was among those who cashed in, the Associated Press reports, buying stocks of companies that were particularly hard-hit by Trump's tariffs that also surged after he announced the pause. "It would be unconscionable for any Member of Congress to use their personal position to benefit financially, especially in a time where Americans across the country are experiencing financial chaos," the Democrats write. "The American people deserve to know if any representatives took advantage of their positions for personal gain."
QUICKEST QUICKIES
- The CDC Is Now Tracking 6 Measles Outbreaks; Cases Reported in 23 States Meanwhile, officials are preparing to fracture the federal health agency and create a new "Administration for a Healthy America," and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., told Donald Trump that he would figure out the cause of autism by September. via the Associated Press, USA Today, and the Guardian.
- China Denies 'Irresponsible' Ukrainian Claim Government Gave Blessing to Mercenaries Fighting for Russia "Numerous recruitment clips" can be found on Chinese social media offering up to $27,000 signing bonuses and $2,400 monthly salaries to aid Russia's invasion, plus the bragging rights of being "a tough man." via BBC News and the Guardian.
- Florida Teacher 'Loved By All' Fired for Calling Student By Their Preferred Name Brevard Public Schools cancelled Melissa Calhoun's contract at Satellite High School after an investigation into her "unintentional" violation of an anti-trans state rule enacted in 2023 requiring parental permission for teachers to use an "alternative" name for a student. via Florida Today and the Washington Post.
- Argentina's Unions Lead Third General Strike Against AnCap Crackpot President Javier Milei "Airlines canceled hundreds of flights as air traffic controllers and other airport workers joined the strike; many schools, banks, and other offices shut down; and ports, some public transport, and other services ground to a halt." via Common Dreams, La Nacion, and Reuters.
SOME NUMBER
$10,000
That's how much the Trump administration may promise as an annual payment to all 57,000 Greenlanders as an incentive to end the country's relationship with Denmark and "join" the United States, the New York Times reports. The US takeover bid could also include "advertising and social media campaigns to sway public opinion on the island" and spread the idea "that America will help Greenlanders 'get rich,'" as Trump has put it.
ON THE SHOW TODAY
4/11: Happy Friday! The guest is Jeet Heer, national affairs correspondent for The Nation and host of the weekly Nation podcast The Time of Monsters. He'll be with us to look back at the absolutely insane week that was (and still technically is).
DON'T MISS MR CLIPS
Warren Shreds CNBC Chud's Price Gouging BS
Guy seems kinda bad at his job.
Tim Pool Says US Support for Israel Will Expire in 10-20 Years
Will he ever accept that he gets invited to meet powerful people because they know he's easy to manipulate?
PARTING WORDS
"At this rate, they will break it. And they will break it fast, and there will be an interruption of benefits."
-- Martin O'Malley, the Biden administration's Social Security commissioner, speaking to the Washington Post about the Trump administration's efforts to gut the agency. Acting commissioner Michelle King quit on Sunday after refusing to provide Nazi-saluting oligarch Elon Musk and his DOGE wrecking crew with "sensitive files," which could include "all Social Security numbers, comprehensive medical records for those who have applied for disability benefits, bank information, earnings records and more."
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