An American Tune... a musical interruption

 

No proof needed

 As the Guardian has pointed out- now with more than 100 men sent to Guantanamo in trumps illegal action- there is no proof that these men are criminals. Nevertheless the "worst of the worst." Of course the same is true of the Muslim men imprisoned at Guantanamo. The overwhelming majority of those men were never charged with any crime but held for years and years. Our courts turned a blind eye on those hundreds of Muslim men.

Of course one difference is that these men trump is illegally sending to Guantanamo came from the U.S. - unlike the Muslim men sent by our second worst president- the Muslim men never set foot in the U.S.. This could make it trickier for our mobster in chief if he intends on denying them the right to the courts. And just maybe the courts will not turn a blind eye to these latest prisoners.

Stay tuned.

h/o to Walt for sending the article!

reflections

 Some called us patriots. Some called us traitors. As for me, I think we were and are attorneys who saw what was going on, knew it was unconstitutional, and knew that it needed to be stopped before our country ceased to exist as a constitutional republic. I actually wrote about deciding to take on my first Guantanamo client at Huffington Post back in 2006 but the archived post is not showing up right now. Here is a copy of the article and I will check again later to see if it is still somewhere at Huffington.

The bottom line is that the process of fighting these guys is tiring but we can't stop fighting or else they will win.

And don't get me wrong- there was, before trump and continues with him at the helm, a lot wrong with this country of mine. But what is going on now will have horrendous ramifications around the world if he is not stopped. Right now we need to focus on stopping the mobster in chief and his cronies. And unlike with the Guantánamo litigation the courts seem to understand the pressing issues this time around.

So, stayed tuned.

"the worst of the worst"

 Again, I did not expect to discover this quickly the identity of any of the men that our tyrant in chief sent to Guantanamo. But the sister of one of the men saw his photo. No surprises here- he is not one of the "worst of the worst." The big give away that he should be sent to Gitmo was his Michael Jordan tatoo.

Digby has more here.

I do wonder how long the U.S. military is going to stand by and watch this guy destroy everything. That of course concerns me too.

The last time Guantanamo was used to house migrants....

 Although not my usual reading material it does give me hope that young people (or at least young girls) are keeping up on our history with Guantanamo:

The history of Guantánamo reflects the racism at the heart of US immigration and refugee policy, a system that has treated Black migrants with tremendous suspicion and has subjected them to rampant immigration law enforcement abuse. Though Black migrants make up just 6% of all people in ICE custody, they constitute about 28% of all abuse-related reports and 24% of migrants in solitary confinement, according to a 2022 report from Freedom for Immigrants, a nonprofit working to end migrant incarceration. “We don’t believe the little Cuban children are given so much misery,” Camp Nine residents wrote in a 1995 petition. “It is that we are Black? Haven’t they heard our voices, are we kids also?”

In the past, as well as in the present, incarcerating migrants at Guantánamo has been catastrophic. It has led to shocking abuse (some of it malicious; some of it through utter incompetence), it has forced the military to operate refugee camps with minimal training for the task, and it has caused unspeakable suffering “with little to no transparency or accountability,” in the words of a recent International Refugee Assistance Project report. Even if the current administration claims Guantánamo will only be used for adults, or only for people with a criminal record, history shows that this is unlikely to restrain them for long. Guantánamo’s power comes in its flexibility — it can be easily, quietly repurposed for whatever “problem” the US wants to make disappear. This includes migrant children and families.

The entire article is worth a read.

U.S. Democracy is frail....

 Yes. I am concerned. We all have roles to play in trying to keep the U.S. democracy alive. And yes, it is under attack and although trump is a buffoon and a mobster he has the help this time around from a cadre of educated and savvy extremists who not only want to bring the country down but they want to cause as much upheaval as the can along the way. We need to pick our battles and I am busy picking mine.

If you have the financial resources I ask that you donate to:

Democracy Docket

Democracy docket has been fighting the very necessary fight in our courts, primarily along the lines of voter protection but their reach goes well beyond that.

Democracy Forward has been in the front line of most of the lawsuits you are reading about right now in efforts to stop the trump extremists from dismantling the U.S. government.

ACLU has long been in the forefront of challenging the U.S. government when it over reaches and engages in unconstitutional conduct. They have been helping to organize the many organizations to join in and sign on to the many lawsuits. The role of the ACLU is more important than ever right now.

AND WATCH FOR PUBLIC DEMONSTRATIONS AND MARCHES AND JOIN IN IF YOU CAN.

Court grants request to block Venezuelan immigrants from being sent to Guantanamo

 

Court grants request to block detained Venezuelan immigrants from being sent to Guantanamo


https://apnews.com/article/immigration-detention-guantanamo-venezuela-new-mexico-ice-8fa3d0d5ef2e0a50061aba04f1a13845

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