National, Regional and Local News

[Owendonovan]

Being born before 1968, I got a MMR (measles mumps rubella) booster last week. I live amongst the unvaccinated Hasidic dolts.

[ponchi101]

Being born before 1968, I got a MMR (measles mumps rubella) booster last week. I live amongst the unvaccinated Hasidic dolts.

People born before 1968 need that booster? I am in that same cohort. Txs.

[Owendonovan]

Being born before 1968, I got a MMR (measles mumps rubella) booster last week. I live amongst the unvaccinated Hasidic dolts.

People born before 1968 need that booster? I am in that same cohort. Txs.

I was told by my Dr. most people pre-68 retain about 90% immunity, but I have a compromised immune system, so better safe than measled.

[ti-amie]

I got a booster a few years ago.

[ti-amie]

The Washington Post
‪@washingtonpost.com‬
Arlington National Cemetery has scrubbed information about prominent Black, Hispanic and female service members and topics such as the Civil War from its website, part of an effort across the Defense Department to remove all references to diversity, equity and inclusion from its online presence.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va ... ce=bluesky

Josh Marshall‬ ‪@joshtpm.bsky.social‬
·
5m

great irony to scrub mentions of the civil war from Arlington. it exits because gen meigs decided it was a just punishment for robert e. lee's treason to have his family estate confiscated and made into a cemetery for union dead. they started the burials right up on the mansion to make certain ...

[ti-amie]

After JD Vance is booed, Kennedy Center head urges 'diversity and inclusion'
Kelsey Ables, Michael Andor Brodeur, Travis Andrews
Fri, March 14, 2025 at 5:01 PM EDT

When Vice President JD Vance took his seat Thursday night at the Kennedy Center in Washington, he was met with a chorus of boos from the packed concert hall. Vance and the second lady, Usha Vance, were attending a performance by the National Symphony Orchestra, which was already seated onstage when the crowd spotted the pair and erupted into loud boos and shouts for more than 30 seconds. The vice president waved and appeared to smile.

On Friday morning, Richard Grenell, an ally of President Donald Trump made interim president of the Kennedy Center by Trump’s new board of trustees, sent an email to the center’s staff, reviewed by The Washington Post, stating that he “received several messages from Kennedy Center staffers sharing their embarrassment over more than a few Symphony patrons loudly booing the Vice President and his wife last night.”

“As the premier Arts organization in the United States of America, we must work to make the Kennedy Center a place where everyone is welcomed,” Grenell wrote. “We clearly have work to do. And I hear your outrage.”

He cited the center’s diversity as a strength. “As President, I take diversity and inclusion very seriously,” he wrote. “I have met with many of you, and I love that we are Christian, Muslim, Jewish, agnostic, gay, straight, black, white, Hispanic and absolutely different.”

“Intolerance towards people who are politically different is just as unacceptable as intolerance in other areas,” he added. “Everyone is welcome at the Kennedy Center.”

Several staffers, speaking on the condition of anonymity out of fear for retribution, told The Post that they were confused by the email, particularly its defense of diversity and inclusion, a principle the Trump administration has assailed in public statements and executive actions.

Trump has been trying to overhaul the institution, appointing a board of trustees that elected him as chair, setting the arts community on edge. Usha Vance, one of Trump’s board members, previously served on the board of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

A number of shows at the Kennedy Center, including the hit musical “Hamilton” and an appearance by actress, comedian and television producer Issa Rae, have been canceled since Trump’s unprecedented move, many in protest. Rae, in a statement, cited “an infringement on the values of an institution that has faithfully celebrated artists of all backgrounds through all mediums.”

Thursday’s concert started 30 minutes late after attendees waited in a long security line that packed the grand foyer ahead of the vice president’s arrival.

After the outburst, patrons quickly settled into an attentive, quiet respect for the musicians, in a kind of whiplash. But intermission was full of people debriefing about what they had just experienced, a rarity in such venues.

In a separate post Friday on X, Grenell wrote in part, “It troubles me to see that so many in the audience appear to be white and intolerant of diverse political views.”

The dramatic response to Vance’s arrival reflects a tense mood in the Washington arts world as it reels from recent events. Last month, when Trump’s board installed him as chair, it also voted to terminate Deborah Rutter as Kennedy Center president and made Grenell interim president, prompting a fallout that led musician Ben Folds, opera singer Renée Fleming and TV producer Shonda Rhimes to step down from their respective roles with the institution.

Trump, who had a terse relationship with the Kennedy Center and the arts during his first term, has started his second term with an apparent interest in reshaping offerings at the preeminent institution. In a post announcing the overhaul, Trump cited drag shows “targeting our youth.” Drag shows are a tiny fraction of the more than 2,000 shows at the institution each year.

The Kennedy Center is a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy, who was a lifelong supporter and advocate of the arts.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/jd- ... 14851.html

[ti-amie]

EO Signed Last Night: CONTINUING THE REDUCTION OF THE FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential ... reaucracy/

Here are the agencies next up on the chopping block according to the new EO signed last night, with a brief summary of what each does & how it will affect the American people.

The elimination of these agencies would disproportionately impact rural areas, where resources are already limited and where these agencies provide critical support. My small rural town in a deep red state relies on the Book-Mobile to bring books to school aged children. Guess that's going to go away now.

(i) Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS)
What they do: The FMCS is an independent federal agency that helps resolve labor disputes through mediation and conflict resolution services. It works with labor unions, employers, and government entities to prevent and minimize the impact of work stoppages, strikes, and lockouts.

How the elimination will affect the American People: The loss of FMCS would likely result in more unresolved labor disputes, increasing strikes and work stoppages that disrupt industries and public services. Rural workers, particularly in agriculture, manufacturing, and public services, may face more prolonged labor disputes without FMCS mediation, leading to economic instability in small towns.

(ii) United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM)
What they do: The USAGM oversees and funds government-sponsored international broadcasting, such as Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), and others. Its mission is to provide objective, accurate, and comprehensive news to international audiences, often in regions with limited press freedom.

How the elimination will affect the American People: Eliminating USAGM would reduce access to reliable, fact-based news for international audiences, weakening U.S. influence in global media and leaving an information vacuum that could be filled by authoritarian regimes. While USAGM primarily serves international audiences, its loss will weaken global understanding of rural America, potentially impacting trade, tourism, and investment in rural industries such as agriculture.

(iii) Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (Wilson Center)
What they do: This think tank, part of the Smithsonian Institution, provides research, dialogue, and policy recommendations on global affairs. It brings together scholars, policymakers, and the public to address key national and international challenges through nonpartisan research and discussion.

How the elimination will affect the American People: Without the Wilson Center, policymakers and the public would lose a key nonpartisan research institution that helps inform critical domestic and international decisions. Rural policymakers and organizations would lose access to nonpartisan research and policy insights that help shape solutions for issues like rural healthcare, economic development, and environmental policy.

(iv) Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)
What they do: The IMLS is the primary federal agency that provides grants, funding, and policy guidance to museums and libraries across the U.S. It supports innovation, accessibility, and lifelong learning initiatives in cultural and educational institutions.

How the elimination will affect the American People: Defunding IMLS would weaken support for libraries and museums, reducing public access to educational resources, lifelong learning programs, and cultural preservation efforts. Small-town libraries and museums, which rely on IMLS grants for technology access, educational programs, and cultural preservation, would struggle to maintain services, widening the digital and educational divide in rural areas.

(v) United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH)
What they do: The USICH is a federal agency that coordinates efforts across government departments to prevent and end homelessness. It develops and promotes strategies, policies, and partnerships at local, state, and national levels.

How the elimination will affect the American People: Eliminating USICH would hinder coordination among federal, state, and local agencies, making it harder to implement effective homelessness reduction strategies. Rural homelessness, often less visible but still prevalent, would become harder to address as coordinated federal support for affordable housing, shelters, and social services disappears.

(vi) Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund)
What they do: The CDFI Fund, part of the U.S. Treasury Department, promotes economic revitalization and community development. It provides financial assistance to Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), which lend to underserved communities, small businesses, and affordable housing projects.

How the elimination will affect the American People: Without the CDFI Fund, low-income and underserved communities would have fewer financial resources, reducing access to affordable housing, small business funding, and economic development opportunities. Rural businesses, farms, and local entrepreneurs would lose access to crucial lending programs, making it more difficult to secure financing for community development, infrastructure, and small business growth.

(vii) Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA)
What they do: The MBDA, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, supports the growth and success of minority-owned businesses. It provides funding, consulting, and advocacy to help businesses access contracts, capital, and new markets.

How the elimination will affect the American People: The loss of MBDA would remove crucial support for minority-owned businesses, making it harder for them to compete, grow, and contribute to economic equity. Minority-owned businesses in rural areas, which already face barriers in accessing capital and government contracts, would lose a vital support system, stalling economic mobility and job creation in these communities.

Writing these summaries up has left me physically ill. I know why they are going after libraries, museums, the media, labor, minority businesses, and underserved communities, but homeless people?

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

https://www.the-independent.com/news/wo ... 15284.html

[ti-amie]

https://www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2025-03-14 ... t-detained

[ti-amie]

Trump enacts a 1790s law to target 'alien enemies' for detention and deportation
March 15, 2025 4:49 PM ET
Ximena Bustillo

In his latest move to clamp down on illegal immigration President Trump has filed a presidential action invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a seldom-used law that gives the president authority to detain or deport nationals of an enemy nation during wartime. It's only the fourth time in American history a president has used the act — and the first since World War II.

The directive targets members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan prison gang, and authorizes expedited removal of all Venezuelan citizens 14 and older who are not U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents.

According to the presidential action, those people "are liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as Alien Enemies."

An executive action signed in January that designated Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization paved the way for the direct removal of its members from U.S. territory under the Alien Enemies Act, declaring they, along with MS-13, a gang with origins in El Salvador not included in Saturday's action, "present an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy."

The announcement from the White House came just hours after a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against the removal of five Venezuelan men for 14 days under the expected invocation of the act. An emergency hearing on the matter will take place Saturday evening.

The expedited removal process allowed under the act means that those subject to the president's declaration would not go through the normal immigration court process, or be able to claim asylum. Advocates fear that invoking the act would also open the door for targeting and deportations of other individuals regardless of their status or criminal records.

"There's nothing in the law itself that would require it to be limited to undocumented individuals or individuals who have committed crimes," said Katherine Yon Ebright, counsel on the liberty and national security team at the center-left Brennan Center for Justice. "It's not about legal status, consistent with the idea that it's a wartime authority, not an immigration authority."

It is also unclear how the inclusion of minors in the president's action Saturday will play into legal challenges.

Trump has laid the groundwork to bring back the old law

Trump threatened today's move since his early days on the campaign trail in 2023. In several rallies he vowed to "invoke the Alien Enemies Act to target and dismantle every migrant criminal network." Immigration was a top theme throughout his campaign, during which he also promised the largest deportation actions in the country's history.

At the Republican National Convention last July, the GOP committed to "invoke the Alien Enemies Act to remove all known or suspected gang members, drug dealers, or cartel members from the United States," as a part of the party platform.

Trump has long argued that the act would give "tremendous authority" for immigration law enforcement. Detentions and deportations conducted through the act would not go through the immigration court system, and would allow Trump to bypass the traditional deportation process, according to Morgan Bailey, who served as deputy chief of staff at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services during Trump's first term, which includes appearing before a judge.

"Under the Aliens Enemies Act, this aspect of going through each of these steps is abbreviated, and there isn't an aspect of showing or allowing the individual to have their day in court before the immigration judge," Bailey said. "Rather, the person could be deported simply based upon the aspect of whether or not they are a national of a particular country."

Legal challenges to enforcing the Act remain

The Alien and Enemies Act is the last of the four Alien and Sedition acts, the other three which have been repealed or expired. It allows the president to detain, relocate or deport non-citizens from a foreign nation or government considered an enemy during wartime.

The last time the act was invoked was WWII, during which 31,000 suspected enemy aliens of mostly Japanese, Italian and German descent were placed in internment camps and military facilities. The law requires war to be formally declared — which only Congress has the authority to do.

George Fishman, senior legal fellow at the conservative Center of Immigration Studies and former deputy general counsel at Department of Homeland Security during the first Trump administration, has been a strong proponent of the act. Still, he has acknowledged the legal challenges in defining illegal immigration as an invasion and labeling gangs as foreign nations.

"It'll be an uphill struggle to get the federal court to sign off on its use," Fishman said. "Federal courts have never up until now bought off en masse illegal immigration as getting the definition of invasion under the US Constitution's use of the term."

But he said that the question of invasion and predatory incursion could still be reasonably argued in court.

Immigrant rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, are already fighting the effort and have urged local governments to put in place measures that limit the use of local resources to assist with immigration enforcement.

Legal experts also say there is legal precedent that may make this difficult as well.

Ebright said that historical efforts to make wartime powers into peacetime immigration enforcement have never succeeded in the courts.

"Challenges will come from the nonprofit sector, advocacy space as well as from states…and very well could result in the courts striking down an effort to use the Alien Enemies Act," Ebright said. "But it is not completely clear what the courts will do."

https://www.npr.org/2025/03/15/nx-s1-52 ... eportation

[ti-amie]

Judge blocks Trump after he invokes wartime Alien Enemies Act to speed up deportations
A federal judge ordered the administration to turn around any planes that had already taken off after the act quietly went into effect.

Updated
March 15, 2025 at 7:48 p.m. EDTtoday at 7:48 p.m. EDT

By Tobi Raji, Marianne LeVine and Maria Sacchetti
A federal judge barred President Donald Trump on Saturday from using a wartime powers act to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members without a hearing, ordering the administration to turn around any planes that had already taken off after the Alien Enemies Act quietly went into effect.

Trump signed a proclamation Friday to deploy the Alien Enemies Act for the first time since World War II to swiftly remove Venezuelans allegedly involved in the transnational gang known as Tren de Aragua. The act has been used only three times to bar citizens of hostile enemy governments from the United States, and only during a declared war.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, the chief judge in the District of Columbia, quickly blocked officials from deporting Venezuelans under the proclamation after civil rights groups filed a challenge earlier Saturday. As he issued his ruling, the judge said he heard that “flights are actively departing” and ordered the Trump administration to immediately halt the removals and return to the United States any flights that are in the air.

He said the immigrants clearly face irreparable harm, “given that these folks will be deported and many or the vast majority to prisons in other countries or sent back to Venezuela, where they face persecution, or worse.”

“This is something that you need to make sure is complied with immediately,” he told the Justice Department.

In his proclamation, Trump alleged that the Tren de Aragua gang is “conducting irregular warfare” against the United States at the “clandestine” direction of the authoritarian Maduro regime in Venezuela, but civil liberties organizations filed a lawsuit Saturday saying the administration had wrongly labeled immigrants as dangerous criminals while depriving them of the opportunity to defend themselves in immigration courts. Five immigrants identified in the case said they had fled gangs or the Maduro regime and feared for their safety.

Boasberg issued a 14-day restraining order blocking the administration from deporting five men from Venezuela, who advocates feared were going to be spirited away to notorious mega-prisons in the Central American nation of El Salvador after that country offered to jail them. Later in the day, the judge expanded the protection from removal to all noncitizens who might be subject to the proclamation in U.S. federal detention centers in the United States.

Drew Ensign, the lawyer representing the Justice Department, did not publicly disclose information about whether the government had deported immigrants to third countries, citing national security concerns, but said the people the United States is trying to deport have serious criminal histories. He emphasized that the president has broad powers over immigration and foreign policy and urged the judge not to intervene in their removals. “Most or all of them are incredibly dangerous individuals,” he told the judge.

Advocates for immigrants raised alarms Saturday amid reports that the Trump administration, after signing the proclamation without publicizing it, had arranged to spirit immigrants onto airplanes and out of the country, in particular to El Salvador, where the president agreed last month to house immigrants and U.S. citizens who had been convicted of crimes.

The American Civil Liberties Union says the men do not have any ties to the criminal group.

“I think those people are in real trouble,” said ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt, urging the judge to order the Trump administration to immediately find out where the immigrants are. “There is so much urgency here and there is so much harm at stake.”


Japanese evacuees move into a war relocation authority center in Manzanar, California, in 1942. (AP)

The Alien Enemies Act allows for the detention and removal of citizens of a country with which the United States is at war, or in the event of an “invasion or predatory incursion.” It was used around World War II to intern Japanese, Italian and German nationals and laid the foundation for the internment of more than 110,000 Japanese Americans.

Invoking the Alien Enemies Act would be an attempt to fulfill a Trump campaign promise to carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in U.S. history, starting with dangerous criminals. The act allows for the detention and removal of individuals from a country with which the United States is at war.

But the United States is not at war, and critics say Trump is reaching back to a shameful time in U.S. history to attack immigrants who just a few years ago were under consideration to become U.S. citizens, a proposal once championed by his own Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants. Moreover, illegal border crossings have been declining since last year and recently plummeted to dramatic lows. A Republican-appointed federal judge in Texas dismissed the notion of a border invasion last year, writing that “surges in unauthorized immigration alone do not qualify as an ‘invasion.’”

Legal scholars say invoking the Alien Enemies Act is a way for the Trump administration to speed up deportations by steamrolling due process rights.

Scholars warned that the Trump administration could use this power to not only target migrants who are in the country illegally but also legal immigrants, especially as he rushes to try to fulfill a campaign promise to carry out the largest domestic deportation campaign in U.S. history.

An estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants live in the United States, many for years, according to federal statistics.

“It’s illegal to use this law in peace time in the absence of an invasion by a foreign power, which we do not have,” said Ilya Somin, a law professor at George Mason University.

Trump has promised to take this extraordinary step, mentioning it at over 30 campaign rallies, according to a Washington Post analysis. After being sworn in, Trump signed an executive order invoking the act as a means to rid the United States of members of transnational gangs such as Tren de Aragua and MS-13, which he has declared “foreign terrorist organizations.”

The order directed the Attorney General and Homeland Security secretary, after consulting with the Secretary of State, to make “operational preparations” in case Trump invokes the act to respond to any “qualifying invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States.” He also ordered them to ready facilities to accelerate deportations.

“By invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, I will direct our government to use the full and immense power of federal and state law enforcement to eliminate the presence of all foreign gangs and criminal networks bringing devastating crime to U.S. soil, including our cities and inner cities,” Trump said in his Jan. 20 inaugural address.

As a presidential candidate, Trump promoted false claims about Tren de Aragua taking over residential buildings in Aurora, Colorado. He promised to use the Alien Enemies Act to launch a deportation program called “Operation Aurora” to go after “illegal migrant criminal networks” in the United States.

In 1798, as the United States anticipated war with France, Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts, which included the Alien Enemies Act. All of the other laws in the package were later reversed or expired. The United States has invoked the act just three times: during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II.

Trump’s decision to invoke the Alien Enemies Act is another effort to circumvent Congress, critics say. During his first administration, Trump declared a national emergency to divert Department of Defense funds to build his border wall, after Congress refused to provide funding.

The top Democrats on the Senate and House Judiciary Committees sent a letter to Trump this month, calling on him to rescind his Jan. 20 proclamation declaring an “invasion” at the southern border.

“The United States is not being invaded, it is not at war with migrants, and you must uphold our duly-enacted immigration laws,” they wrote. “We have full faith that the courts will stand firm in the face of your attacks on the separation of powers.”

Clara Ence Morse contributed to this report.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigrat ... ortations/

[ponchi101]

Oh, Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, is going to make it all right now.
Not.
You know one thing that is really bad when you go to the USA? You are from S. America and you run into a TSA/CBP agent that is of Latin heritage at Miami International or Houston Intercontinental. Because they have this thing that because they are American citizens, they have to be extra rough on us Latinos that are visiting. You feel like telling them "I am not your dad 60 years ago".
But of course, that would put you back on the plane (immigration officers have the right to deport you just on the suspicion that you pose a threat of staying).

So, Marco will not do anything about that. He will gladly enforce it.

[Owendonovan]

Judge blocks trump, trump ignores judge.

[ponchi101]

Welcome to the game of "How can I tell if I am living in a dictatorship!", brought to you courtesy of TWT/X.
Contestant 1. For $32,000.
You are living in a dictatorship if:
a. The president does not abide to the decisions made by the judiciary branch of government.
b. The legislative branch of government does not abide to the decisions made by the judiciary.
c. The Executive and Legislative branches of government use the judiciary branch at their convenience.
d. ALL OF THE ABOVE

Which do you pick?