IS THIS REALLY WHERE WE STAND?

When will the GOP Congress begin to assert their power and push back against the creeping authoritarianism we are watching daily by the Trump administration? “Maybe a guy in a robe in D.C. can follow all the protocols, but Trump is the ‘f-ing’ president of the United States who protects 300 million plus people. He is a leader who does not have the luxury of opening up his little books to read ‘Oh my god, maybe he didn’t do it the right way.’ Roberts, shut the ‘f’ up. This is something that a president has to do. He HAS to do this.” A Fox News personality telling Justice Roberts to ‘shut the ‘f’-up because he dared to respond with a reminder of our legal system to an unhinged rant by Trump to a judge’s decision. This is not an obscure podcast. This is a major network promoting violence and revolution against our judiciary system. We’ve seen the power of Fox. This goes beyond disagreeing with a decision of the court. How can our most important right, the freedom of speech, be allowed to fulminate such dangerous rhetoric? The Alien Enemies Act permits the president to arrest and deport citizens of other countries that are at war with the U.S. Or invading it. All a president has to do is claim that Venezuela is plotting against the U.S. and he can take immigration power away from Congress. He can then deport ANY country’s citizens without going through normal legal processes. Which he did. Two days after the Venezuelan men were deported, Acting Field Office Director Robert L. Cerna of ICE Enforcement & Removal Ops revealed that “many” of those deported did not have criminal records in the United States, although he insisted that the men were nonetheless associated with the Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang. In a sworn declaration, Cerna told the court that if the deportees lack a criminal record, “that is because they have only been in the United States for a short period of time.” He went on to say: “The lack of criminal record does not indicate they pose a limited threat. In fact, based upon their association with TdA, the lack of specific information about each individual actually highlights the risk they pose. It demonstrates that they are terrorists with regard to whom we lack a complete profile.” Wow. So now the Trump administration can round people up, do with them what they want, because they know they will do bad things in the future? And we’re told that is a presidential power we the people should unquestionably support? On his webcast Steve Bannon defended the deportations even if, as his guest said, they swept in “some gardener or something who’d never been in trouble.” Bannon replied: “ Big deal…. Maybe some people got caught up in it. Who knows?... I think they got everybody who was a bad guy, but guess what? If there's some innocent gardeners in there? Hey, tough break for a swell guy. That's where we stand.” Yep. Until that swell guy is you. This is completely unacceptable.