Wait, what...?!!!

#Trump Is Exploiting the #Shutdown to Set Up Something Truly Terrifying

By Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern
Oct 17, 2025

Excerpt: "I think that is a dangerous thing, and it’s pretty much undeniable that Trump has just crossed yet another Rubicon. He has already asserted presidential control over taxes through his tariff policy. He has asserted control over the Federal Reserve and interest rates and monetary policy. And now he’s asserting control over appropriations—and not just through pocket rescissions or canceling projects in blue states, which he had already done. Now he is actually asserting a constitutional imperative to spend money in a way that Congress has not approved. When you combine all of those things, it’s hard to see how the separation of powers still exists in this country."

Read more:
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/10/trump-shutdown-army-pay-2026.html

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/7cYI5

#USPol #TrumpIsAFascist #SecretPolice #CapitolGuards #Panem #authoritarianism #Fascism #CharacteristicsOfFascism

Ring cameras are about to get increasingly chummy with law enforcement

Amazon’s Ring partners with company whose tech has reportedly been used by ICE.

Scharon Harding – Oct 17, 2025

"Law enforcement agencies will soon have easier access to footage captured by Amazon’s Ring smart cameras. In a partnership announced this week, Amazon will allow approximately 5,000 local law enforcement agencies to request access to Ring camera footage via surveillance platforms from Flock Safety. Ring’s cooperation with law enforcement and the reported use of Flock technologies by federal agencies, including US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has resurfaced privacy concerns that have followed the devices for years.

"According to Flock’s announcement, its Ring partnership allows local law enforcement members to use Flock software 'to send a direct post in the Ring Neighbors app with details about the investigation and request voluntary assistance.' Requests must include 'specific location and timeframe of the incident, a unique investigation code, and details about what is being investigated,' and users can look at the requests anonymously, Flock said.

" 'Any footage a Ring customer chooses to submit will be securely packaged by Flock and shared directly with the requesting local public safety agency through the FlockOS or Flock Nova platform,' the announcement reads.

"Flock said its local law enforcement users will gain access to Ring Community Requests in 'the coming months.' "

Read more:
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/ring-cameras-are-about-to-get-increasingly-chummy-with-law-enforcement/

#BigBrother #BigBrotherIsWatching #USPol #ACAB #TrumpIsABully #SecretPolice #ICESucks #Disappeared
#Orwellian #ThoughtPolice #ICEOfficers #BigGuns #SilencingDissent #CharacteristicsOfFascism #authoritarianism

#Chicago judge questions Trump official over #ICE agents' use of force

By Diana Novak Jones and Joseph Ax
Mon, October 20, 2025

Excerpt: "A federal judge in Chicago on Monday grilled U.S. immigration officials about federal agents' use of tear gas and other forceful tactics against protesters as part of President Donald Trump's crackdown in the city.

"U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis has repeatedly expressed concern that federal agents were violating her October 9 order requiring them to wear visible #identification and limiting their use of anti-riot weapons such as #PepperBalls and #TearGas. On Friday, Ellis ordered federal officers who have body cameras to turn them on while conducting immigration enforcement activity and during interactions with the public.

"At Monday's hearing, Ellis also said she would allow the plaintiffs in the case - protesters, journalists and clergy members who sued the Trump administration alleging they were deliberately brutalized during peaceful demonstrations - to question several officials under oath, including Gregory Bovino, a top U.S. Border Patrol official.

"In granting the plaintiffs' request, Ellis made it clear the litigation is limited to the tactics used by field agents, not the president's stated rationale.

" 'I don't think that it matters what the administration's objectives are or what goals they have or what ideology is pushing this enforcement action,' she said. 'This lawsuit...is all about how our ICE officials and #CBP officials are enforcing the laws.'

"Clashes between protesters and federal agents, particularly #BorderPatrol agents and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, have increased since Trump launched the crackdown in early September.

"Trump also ordered the deployment of National Guard troops to the Chicago area, part of the Republican president's extraordinary campaign to send military personnel to Democratic-run cities purportedly to fight crime. A federal judge has temporarily blocked the deployment, but the Justice Department has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the troops to proceed.

"Separately, a federal appeals court on Monday cleared the way for hundreds of Guard soldiers to deploy to Portland, Oregon, despite the objections of the Democratic mayor and governor there."

Read more:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/chicago-judge-questions-trump-official-211559155.html

#USPol #ACAB #TrumpIsABully
#SecretPolice #ICESucks #Disappeared
#Orwellian #ThoughtPolice #ICEOfficers #BigGuns #SilencingDissent #CharacteristicsOfFascism #authoritarianism #ICE #MurderPatrol

#ICE boosts weapons spending 700%

A Popular Information investigation reveals tens of millions in new ICE spending on #guns, #ChemicalWeapons, and explosives.

Judd Legum
Oct 20, 2025

Excerpt: "U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has sharply increased its spending on weapons in 2025, according to an analysis of federal government contracting data by Popular Information. Records from the Federal Procurement Data System reveal that ICE has increased spending on 'small arms, ordnance, and ordnance accessories manufacturing' by 700% compared to 2024 levels.

"New spending in the small arms category from January 20, 2025, the day Trump was inaugurated, through October 18, totaled $71,515,762. Most of the spending was on guns and armor, but there have also been significant purchases of chemical weapons and 'guided missile warheads and explosive components.'

"On September 29, 2025, ICE made a $9,098,590 purchase from #GeisseleAutomatics, which sells #SemiAutomatic and #AutomaticRifles. The total spending by ICE in the small arms category between January 20 and October 18, 2024, was $9,715,843."

https://popular.info/p/ice-boosts-weapons-spending-700

#USPol #ACAB #TrumpIsABully
#SecretPolice #ICESucks #Disappeared
#Orwellian #ThoughtPolice #ICEOfficers #BigGuns #SilencingDissent #CharacteristicsOfFascism #authoritarianism

#USCitizen detained and held at #ICE building in Portland for hours before release, lawyer says

By CLAIRE RUSH
Updated 9:33 PM EDT, October 10, 2025

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — "A U.S. citizen in #PortlandOR, was detained by plainclothes officers and held at the city’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building for hours before being released, according to his attorney.

Frank Miranda was outside his place of work early on Oct. 2 when multiple agents wearing masks, who did not identify themselves, approached him and told him he was “on an overstay,” his attorney Michael Fuller said. In a video that Miranda took of his detention, he can be heard saying, “What do you mean, overstay? I don’t know what that is.”

He told the officers that he was born in California. After objecting to being taken into custody and saying he hadn’t done anything wrong, an officer can be heard on the video saying, “We’re gonna put you in cuffs or you’re gonna get the dog.”

Miranda was then struck from behind, handcuffed and put into an unmarked vehicle that took him to Portland’s ICE building, Fuller said. He was held there for several hours before being driven back to his place of work.

ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment."

https://apnews.com/article/us-citizen-detained-ice-portland-oregon-646ac425d32902b5f447e021f70da7df

#IndefiniteDetention #ICE #Fascism #USPol #Trump #CharacteristicsOfFascism #Orwell #ICEKidnapping

The only *gangs* terrorizing neighborhoods is #ICE!

How federal agents are terrorizing American citizens

by Judd Legum
Oct 06, 2025

"Last week, hundreds of heavily armed federal agents descended on an apartment complex in #Chicago, arriving in #BlackHawkHelicopters and moving trucks. After they arrived at 7500 S. South Shore Drive, agents from #BorderPatrol, the #FBI, and other agencies busted down nearly every door. Residents were pulled from their apartments in the middle of the night, including children, some of them reportedly naked.

"The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the raid was targeting the Tren de Aragua gang, but 'gave no evidence to support the assertion.' There is little to suggest Tren de Aragua has a significant presence in the Chicago area.

"The Trump administration described the action as targeting a terrorist organization but declined to say whether it obtained search warrants for the raid. By ignoring legal requirements designed to protect civil liberties, the operation ensnared numerous American citizens who live in the building.

"67-year-old Roderick Johnson, a U.S. citizen, 'said agents broke through his door and dragged him out in zip ties.' After telling agents he was a citizen, Johnson was told he 'had to wait until they looked me up.' His requests to see a search warrant or speak to a lawyer were ignored. Johnson 'was left tied up outside the building for nearly three hours before agents finally let him go.' "

Read more:
https://popular.info/p/how-federal-agents-are-terrorizing

#TrumpSucks #ICESucks #TerorizingUSCitizens #ACAB #USPol #CharacteristicsOfFascism

Live Updates: #Trump Threatens to Use #EmergencyPowers to Bypass Courts and Deploy Troops

The president said he was considering invoking the #InsurrectionAct to send #NationalGuard units to #Chicago and #PortlandOR., over local objections. Gov. #JBPritzker of Illinois called the mobilization 'an unconstitutional invasion.'

Julie Bosman, Shawn Hubler, Anna Griffin and Eric Schmitt
Reporting from Chicago, Los Angeles, Portland, Ore., and Washington.

October 6, 2025

Here’s the latest. (updated at 7:30 PM EDT).

"A federal judge on Monday declined to block the deployment of National Guard units to Illinois, a mobilization that the state’s governor, JB Pritzker, labeled an 'unconstitutional invasion' by the federal government, as President Trump threatened to assume emergency powers to bypass court battles and send in the troops.

"The outcome of the court hearing in Illinois, which allows the Trump-ordered deployment to move ahead for now, came as a military official said 200 troops from the #TexasNationalGuard were set to fly to the Chicago area late Monday and begin operating there later in the week. A similar effort to deploy Texas troops in Portland, Ore., has been blocked by a judge for now."

Read more:
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/10/06/us/national-guard-trump-oregon-chicago#trump-insurrection-act-national-guard

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/DPjY9

#Authoritarianism #EmergencyPowers #InsurrectionAct #SilencingDissent #USPol #TrumpIsAFascist #CharacteristicsOfFascism

#LiarInChief #Trump no longer distancing himself from #Project2025 as he uses #shutdown to further pursue its goals

By JILL COLVIN
Updated 12:00 AM EDT, October 3, 2025

NEW YORK (AP) — "President Donald Trump is openly embracing the conservative blueprint he desperately tried to distance himself from during the 2024 campaign, as one of its architects works to use the government shutdown to accelerate his goals of slashing the size of the federal workforce and punishing Democratic states.

"In a post on his Truth Social site Thursday morning, Trump announced he would be meeting with his budget chief, '#RussVought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent.'

"The comments represented a dramatic about-face for Trump, who spent much of last year denouncing Project 2025, The Heritage Foundation’s massive proposed overhaul of the federal government, which was drafted by many of his longtime allies and current and former administration officials.

"Both of Trump’s Democratic rivals, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, made the far-right wish list a centerpiece of their campaigns, and a giant replica of the book featured prominently onstage at the Democratic National Convention.

" 'Donald Trump and his stooges lied through their teeth about Project 2025, and now he’s running the country straight into it,' said Ammar Moussa, a former spokesperson for both campaigns. 'There’s no comfort in being right — just anger that we’re stuck with the consequences of his lies.'

"Shalanda Young, director of the Office of Management and Budget under Biden, said the administration had clearly been following the project’s blueprint all along.

" 'I guess Democrats were right, but that doesn’t make me feel better,' she said. 'I’m angry that this is happening after being told that this document was not going to be the centerpiece of this administration.' "

Read more:
https://apnews.com/article/trump-project-2025-russ-vought-shutdown-2d1ea5e6e32c583ddf6b8a8164e523c3?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

#USPol #DoublePlusUngood #Authoritarianism #ChristoFascism #CharacteristicsOfFascism

Ignoring Court Ruling, #Trump Sends Troops to #PortlandOR to Break Imagined #Antifa “Siege”

Trump’s order to send the Oregon #NationalGuard to Portland appeared to surprise #Pentagon officials.

by Nick Turse, September 29, 2025

Excerpt: "Recent protests in Portland have been muted and focused on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building located outside the city’s downtown area. In court this month, a Portland police official said federal officers were 'instigating' confrontations with protesters outside the ICE facility. Several demonstrators have been charged with assault. Others have been charged with crimes like arson and resisting arrest.

"Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the #BrennanCenter’s liberty and national security program, said there was no cause for Trump’s order. 'Under law and tradition, the military should be used to quell civil unrest only in the most extreme circumstances where state and local authorities are overwhelmed and have asked for help. The situation in Portland comes nowhere close to the level of disorder that has historically prompted states to request assistance from the federal military, which is why local authorities haven’t made such a request,' she told The Intercept. 'Throwing out the term ‘#DomesticTerrorism’ doesn’t change matters. Domestic terrorism is a crime that is prosecuted by civilian authorities. Some protesters in Portland have been charged with misdemeanors, but none have been charged with #terrorism.'

"Trump’s Portland announcement appeared to surprise #Pentagon officials, who offered no information even a day after Trump issued his order on Truth Social. 'We stand ready to mobilize U.S. military personnel in support of #DHS operations in Portland at the President’s direction,' chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell told The Intercept. 'The Department will provide information and updates as they become available.' The Intercept never received any updates.

"The National Guard also appeared to have been kept in the dark. At this time, we do not have any additional information,' a spokesperson told The Intercept on Sunday. On Monday, Northern Command — which will oversee the Portland deployment — still had no details to offer. 'We don’t have any [sic] to provide in addition to the OSW statement,' a spokesperson told The Intercept.

"Trump has long expressed animus toward Portland, stretching back to his first term, when he called it a 'beehive of terrorists.' In 2020, federal agents wearing camouflage were deployed in the city, in the wake of #protests over the police killing of #GeorgeFloyd. Then-Gov. #KateBrown described it as a 'blatant abuse of power' and said it was designed to distract citizens from Trump’s bungled handling of the #Covid19 pandemic.
Trump’s new Portland order follows a series of #authoritarian actions that have pushed the nation ever closer to a genuine police state. Earlier this month, Trump signed an executive order claiming to designate #antifa — a loose-knit #AntiFascist movement — as a 'domestic terror organization.' On Thursday, he issued National Security Presidential Memorandum 7, which directs the Justice Department and elements of the Intelligence Community and national security establishment to target 'anti-fascism … movements' and 'domestic terrorist organizations.' Such enemies, according to Trump, not only espouse 'anti-Americanism' and 'support for the overthrow of the United States Government,' but also are typified by advocacy of opinions protected by the #FirstAmendment including '#AntiCapitalism,' 'anti-Christianity,' and 'hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.'

“ 'President Trump’s order mobilizing federal law enforcement to investigate perceived opponents of his administration turns reality on its head,' said Federico Borello, acting executive director of #HumanRightsWatch. 'It fabricates a nonexistent plot as a #pretext to suppress speech and ideas across the U.S. political spectrum.' "

Read more:
https://theintercept.com/2025/09/29/trump-portland-troops-antifa/

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/VSSp1

#USPol #Authoritarianism #SilencingDissent #CharacteristicsOfFascism #ChristoFascism #PDX #Oregon

The Trump Administration Is Arguing It Can Hold Dreamers Indefinitely

By Jessica Washington, Sept 29, 2025

Excerpt: "According to a tracker launched by a coalition of immigration organizations, including the National Immigration Law Center and United We Dream, nearly 20 #DACA recipients have been detained within the last year.

" 'We’re really concerned,' said Juliana Macedo do Nascimento, deputy director of federal policy for the immigrant advocacy organization, #UnitedWeDream.

"Macedo do Nascimento said that the #Trump administration appears to be intentionally going after DACA recipients, who should not ordinarily be targets for #deportation.

" 'There are two cases right now, that we’re aware of, Jean Carlos and [Paulo Cesar Gamez Lira], where ICE showed up to in Paulo’s case, to his mother’s house while he was dropping off his kids, specifically to apprehend him, and then in Jean Carlos’s case, to his own house specifically to detain him,' she said. 'So that shows that de-prioritization is not happening anymore.'

"They’re trying to 'kill DACA by 1,000 cuts,' said Macedo do Nascimento, noting that the administration has been urging Dreamers to 'self-deport.' "

Read more:
https://theintercept.com/2025/09/29/trump-daca-dreamer-deport/

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/vtn55

#USPol #IndefiniteDetention #authoritarianism #Dreamers #NoOneIsIllegalOnStolenLand #CharacteristicsOfFascism