Five Questions About Trump's Alien Enemy Act Proclamation

A quick take on some of the questions raised by Trujmp's ... dubious invocation of
a 1798 statute as a basis for arresting, detaining,
and removing non-citizens with ties to Tren de Aragua.

Saturday brought with it a whole bunch of news about the Alien Enemy Act of 1798

In a nutshell, Trump signed a long-anticipated proclamation purporting to invoke the Alien Enemy Act against Tren de Aragua,
a transnational gang with deep roots in Venezuela.

Meanwhile, in a lawsuit filed by the #ACLU and #Democracy #Forward in Washington, D.C., Chief Judge #James #Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order
—first against use of the Alien Enemies Act to remove five named plaintiffs potentially being held under the Act;
and, by the end of a multi-hour hearing Saturday afternoon, against use of the statute to remove from the United States just about anyone being held under the 1798 statute.

The government has already noticed an appeal of both orders to the D.C. Circuit (where they have been consolidated), and has asked for an emergency stay pending those appeals,
so things on the litigation front may continue to move … quickly, including, perhaps as soon as this week, to the Supreme Court.

https://www.stevevladeck.com/p/132-five-questions-about-trumps-alien

Can a book be so painful and so funny at the same time?
Can language be so painful and so funny at the same time?

James, Percival Everett

8/10

A federal judge has preemptively barred the Trump administration from quickly deporting five Venezuelan nationals under the
"Alien Enemies Act of 1798" -- a rarely used law meant to quickly remove foreigners during wartime or invasion.

U.S. District Judge ##James #Boasberg issued the urgent ruling Saturday morning,
citing “exigent circumstances,” just hours after a lawsuit was filed on behalf of five Venezuelan men
-- who say they have been cued up for deportation within hours or days as a result of Trump’s expected decision to invoke the
"Alien Enemies Act".

Boasberg, the chief judge for the federal district court in Washington, D.C.,
also called for a hearing Saturday afternoon
on the lawsuit’s effort to ensure anyone else targeted by Trump’s expected invocation is protected from immediate deportation.

The lawsuit, filed by "Democracy Forward" and the ACLU, emphasizes that the "Alien Enemies Act"
has only been invoked during wartime
— the War of 1812, World War I and World War II.

The order by Boasberg was issued with unusual urgency, before the Trump administration had a chance to respond.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/15/trump-deportation-lawsuit-00232121

Former New York state governor #Andrew #Cuomo on Saturday announced a run for mayor of New York City,
an attempt to come back from a sexual harassment scandal that forced him to resign more than three years earlier.
Cuomo, 77, served as governor from 2011 to 2021, guiding the state through the worst, deadliest months of the Covid-19 crisis.
But he was forced to resign in August of his final year as governor when an investigation commissioned by the New York attorney general, #Letitia #James, found he had sexually harassed at least 11 women during his time in office.
The former governor, a Democrat, is aiming to unseat incumbent the New York City mayor, #Eric #Adams, who has been grappling with criminal corruption charges
that Trump's US justice department is seeking to have lifted – pending a judicial sign-off

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/01/andrew-cuomo-mayor-new-york-city?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

The New York Times Opinion section is negotiating the exit of columnist #Pamela #Paul, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

Her impending departure is one of a series of job cuts being made at the section.

Last month, #Paul #Krugman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist who had been a part of Opinion since 2000, announced to much fanfare that he was leaving.

The Opinion section has been the site of the paper’s fiercest culture war battles in recent years,
most famously leading to the firing of editor #James #Bennet in 2020 over an op-ed by Senator Tom Cotton calling for the deployment of troops during the George Floyd protests.

Since then, under Opinion editor #Kathleen #Kingsbury, management at the Times has labored mightily to show that it is open to a "diversity of thought",
-- an effort that appeared to be spearheaded by Paul, who has taken conservative stances on contentious topics such as gender-affirming youth care.

Paul is notable for her willingness to buck liberal-left conventional wisdom:
She has written a defense of J.K. Rowling and scrutinized the MeToo movement for overreach,
while a recent column criticized the American Historical Society’s vote to condemn the ongoing “scholasticide” in Gaza.

Some colleagues have said she does little more than produce rage bait,
with what one Times staffer referred to as “intellectually lazy” positions.

“It is a rarity inside the Times for someone to manage to make enemies on every desk they touch;
-- Pamela is indeed a rarity,” one newsroom employee said.

“She should have spent time making allies if she was going to be as divisive a figure as she was internally.
But she didn’t put the time in there, or at least did not have the interest.”

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/pamela-paul-is-out-at-the-times-opinion-section.html

The Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward forcefully denied making statements attributed to him by #James #Comer, the Republican chair of the powerful House oversight committee, in which Woodward supposedly said Joe Biden was financially corrupt.

“The statements attributed to me in what is apparently his book are false,” Woodward said.

“I made none of those statements he attributes to me. I repeat none, and not even in a paraphrased form.”
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/jan/11/bob-woodward-james-comer-biden-corruption?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Love that Percival Everett's James is referenced in this article. If you haven't read it yet, go to your independent bookstore, buy it and behold its brilliance.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-barnes-and-noble-made-a-comeback-by-revitalizing-its-philosophy?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub

#PercivalEverett
#James

Nearly 500 journalists are on strike at the #Guardian and its sister paper, the Sunday-only #Observer, to protest the planned sale of the Observer to a small digital startup.

"We believe it's a total betrayal of the Guardian's values and promises that it's made," says #Carole #Cadwalladr, an investigative reporter and feature writer for the Observer.

"The sale of the Observer to a loss-making startup is potentially the death of this historic brand."

The strike, which started Wednesday, is expected to last for two days this week and restart for a couple more days next week.

Cadwalldr says the strike is intended to convince the Observer's owner to slow down a process that the paper's union says is sprinting to a preordained conclusion.

She says colleagues believe other suitors could emerge if further review shows the Guardian should divest itself of the Sunday paper.

The Observer is a storied liberal title whose first issue came out on this date in 1791.

It is believed to be the world's oldest Sunday paper.

Its famous journalists include George Orwell. And it was central to the launch of the human rights group Amnesty International.

The buyer is #Tortoise #Media, a well-regarded but small news outlet founded in 2019
and led by #James #Harding, the former director of BBC News and editor of The Times of London.

Its tagline is "slow down, wise up."

It promises to delve into what's driving the news rather than simply post the latest headlines.

It has not yet turned a profit but has deep-pocketed backers,
including the investment arm of the Thomson family that controls Reuters and owns the Globe and Mail newspaper in Canada.
https://www.npr.org/2024/12/04/nx-s1-5213914/guardian-strike-observer-sale

Forget firing,
Donald Trump just pitched having special counsel Jack Smith #deported.

During a rambling radio interview on 77WABC’s Cats & Cosby Thursday,
Trump threw out Smith’s name when asked about his plans for immigration. 

“Domestically, what could America look like if it continues to have this open border policy that we have seen?” asked host Rita Cosby.
“We can’t have it, it’s, it’s not sustainable, it has to be shut immediately and you have to let people in, but they have to come in legally and you have to get the killers, the murderers, and the mentally deranged, you have to get them out.
And we should throw Jack Smith out with them,” Trump said. 
“The #mentally #deranged people, Jack Smith should be considered mentally deranged and he should be thrown out of the country,” Trump continued. 

Trump seemed to pluck Smith’s name out of thin air, as the special counsel had not yet come up in the interview.
Smith has overseen two investigations into Trump,
one regarding his alleged efforts to overturn the election results in 2020,
and another into his alleged mishandling of classified documents.  

This isn’t the first time Trump has threatened to deport those in the country legally.
The former president has repeatedly made threats to deport immigrants who have entered the country under temporary protected status and humanitarian parole.

Shortly before claiming that he would deport one of his political enemies, who is attempting to hold him accountable for his alleged crimes, Trump tried desperately to defend himself from claims that he was a fascist. 

The former president went on a tirade against his former chief of staff, retired U.S. general #John #Kelly, who said that Trump fell into the “general definition of fascist.”
Trump claimed Kelly was simply angry he’d been fired.

Trump went on a wild rant calling Kelly a “stupid person,”
“a bully who made up stories,”
and “a man of rather low intelligence, who was a tough guy who became a marshmallow.”
He swerved into complaints about former Secretaries of Defense #Mark #Esper and #James #Mattis, and former Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff #Mark #Milley. 

This is Trump’s second threat against Smith in as many days.
Trump vowedThursday to “fire” Smith on his first day in office, in hopes of washing his hands of the two federal cases against him.

https://newrepublic.com/post/187579/donald-trump-jack-smith-deport

The Trump campaign’s male-dominated culture is losing women votes

Soon after Donald Trump’s campaign team took over the Republican National Committee earlier this year, a senior Trump aide was asked
how to combat news stories that the campaign had an insufficient get-out-the-vote operation.

“We are going to beat the reporters into retardation!”
shouted #James #Blair,
one of the two men now leading the operation, on a call with other advisers,
according to two people with direct knowledge of the conversation.


Such #pugnacity has come to define much of the tone and image of Trump’s 2024 campaign,
reflecting the personalities of many of the men leading it as well as the candidate.

Trump has long valued being viewed as an alpha male who never apologizes or shows weakness.

In many ways, that campaign culture mirrors some of its strategies.

Trump and his advisers are calculating that, at a time when polls show voters dissatisfied with the direction of the country, and with turmoil abroad revealing the limitations of America’s global influence,
they can win the White House by projecting a particular kind of strength
— with a distinctly #aggressive vibe not seen in presidential campaigns before

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/10/10/is-trump-campaigns-male-dominated-culture-losing-women-votes/

#Leonard #Peltier, a Native American activist,
has been imprisoned for nearly 50 years in the USA
for a crime he maintains he did not commit.

There are serious and ongoing concerns about the fairness of his trial and conviction.
#Tribal #Nations, Nobel #Peace #Laureates, former #FBI #agents, numerous others, and even the former U.S. Attorney, #James #Reynolds, whose office handled the prosecution,
have called for Leonard Peltier’s release.

Now 79 years old, he suffers from several chronic health ailments,
including one that is potentially fatal.

#President #Biden should grant him #clemency and release him before it is too late.

https://www.amnestyusa.org/campaigns/free-leonard-peltier/

Peter Thiel, who is “taking a break from democracy,”
will be keynote speaker at a
Culture, Religion, and Technology Fireside chat April 19. 

He will be joined by #Bambi #Francisco #Roizen,
who organized the event,
and writes on the Unequally Yoked website: “We were yoked together in 1776, when our united goal was to be a nation under God. But that God-fearing identity has been shattered.” 

Joining Thiel and Francisco Roizen will be
“Christian Nationalist” and Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Education #Ryan #Walters,

Bucks County, Pennsylvania, MAGA millionaire and aspiring oligarch #Paul #Martino (who has public education in his crosshairs),  

anti-(teachers) union Freedom Foundation President #Aaron #Withe,

and #James #Lindsay, who the Southern Poverty Law Center identifies as “a leading voice in the reactionary anti-student inclusion, anti-LGBTQ, and conspiracy propaganda movements

https://crownewsletter.substack.com/p/christian-right-observer-weekly-volume-fd1

A Washington state man who used a #megaphone to #orchestrate a mob’s #attack on #police officers guarding the U.S. Capitol was sentenced on Wednesday to more than seven years in prison.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth said videos captured #Taylor #James #Johnatakis playing a leadership role during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot.
Johnatakis led other rioters on a charge against a police line, “barked commands” over his megaphone and shouted step-by-step directions for overpowering officers, the judge said.
“In any angry mob, there are leaders and there are followers. Mr. Johnatakis was a leader. He knew what he was doing that day,” the judge said before sentencing him to #seven #years and three months behind bars.
Johnatakis, who represented himself with an attorney on standby, has repeatedly expressed rhetoric that appears to be #inspired by the anti-government “#sovereign #citizen ” movement.

https://apnews.com/article/taylor-johnatakis-capitol-riot-sentencing-f97acd68b8860d36b212e408ac80abd4

According to police, Tyler Vogel, 26 of Lancaster NY, sent a text message to New York Attorney General #Letitia #James, saying he would use “death and physical harm if she did not comply with his requests to cease action” against Donald Trump,
specifically, the seizure of his assets and properties following New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron’s ruling in February.

In texts to both Engoron and James, Vogel reportedly told the judge that he would defend himself with ️“deadly force” ️and would go after the officials with the same.

Vogel is accused of telling James in particular that he had a “whole wall of deadly weapons” to choose from.

“Mark my words I will kill you if you even dare to permanently steal Donald Trumps assets or his property,” he is accused of writing in one text sent late last month.

A complaint filed in Lancaster notes that Vogel is accused of using a “paid online background website” to seek out James and Engoron’s private information and that this “confirmed intentions to follow through with the threats were his demands not met.”

Vogel is facing two felony counts of making terroristic threats and a pair of second-degree aggravated harassment misdemeanor charges.

As first reported by the Buffalo News, Vogel is accused of telling James that he was giving her “fair warning” that she was “not to permanently steal Donald Trumps assets or his property.”
“Furthermore,” Vogel allegedly wrote to James, “you are not to imprison Donald Trump.”

Public inmate records show that Vogel was detained at the Erie County Holding Center on March 25.

A statement released two days after his arrest by Erie County District Attorney John Flynn noted that if convicted, the 26-year-old man faces a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/mark-my-words-i-will-kill-you-man-allegedly-threatened-judge-attorney-general-in-trump-civil-fraud-case/

Liberal justices blast Supreme Court majority for allowing Alabama execution

The three liberal Supreme Court justices took aim at their conservative colleagues for allowing the early Friday execution of an Alabama death row inmate who had raised claims about the state's history of botching the lethal injection process.

The court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, declined to block the execution of #James #Barber, who was put to death at about 2 a.m. local time.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/liberal-justices-blast-supreme-court-majority-allowing-alabama-executi-rcna95502

"This court’s decision denying Barber’s request for a stay allows Alabama to experiment again with a human life," Justice Sonia #Sotomayor wrote in a dissenting opinion joined by her liberal colleagues, Justices Elena #Kagan and Ketanji Brown #Jackson.
Barber had argued that the execution would violate his right to be free from #cruel and #unusual #punishment under the Constitution's Eighth Amendment.

Prosecutor connected to Jan. 6 probe takes on lawyer for tech companies in mystery appeals court fight

- #Ari #Holtzblatt, an attorney with the high-powered firm WilmerHale — who has most recently represented #Twitter, #Google and #Meta — argued against Justice Department trial attorney #James #Pearce, according to filings lodged with the federal D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Holtzblatt has most frequently represented Twitter in recent months, including in a Supreme Court case in February that resulted in a significant victory for the social media company earlier this week.

Pearce is among the DOJ prosecutors working closely with special counsel #Jack #Smith’s team.

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/20/prosecutor-connected-to-jan-6-probe-takes-on-lawyer-for-tech-companies-in-mystery-appeals-court-fight-00098022