Violations Of The Bill Of Rights

The Horrors And Fears Latinos Now Face Due To ICE Raids!

Tragically, Latinos in America, whether born in America, or naturalized citizens, or those with a “green card”, or those who are undocumented, face the horrors and fear of ICE raids!

This is true in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Washington DC, and elsewhere, as thousands upon thousands of immigrants who washed cars, shopped for groceries, delivered food, walked dogs, drove their cars and attended schools and jobs, are being summarily arrested and facing deportation!

Mothers and fathers and even teenagers have been separated from their families without notice or knowledge of where such victims are being sent on the way to deportation.

This is a civil liberties crisis unmatched in American history, with an out of control Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency waging massive raids, with a hardline attitude by Kristi Noem, Tom Homan, Stephen Miller, and others, who are acting as authoritarians under their sycophantic loyalty to Donald Trump.

The Supreme Court has bent to the will of the Trump Administration, with six of the nine members of the high Court giving leeway to whatever is occurring, which is violating the Bill Of Rights, and the future will be determined in future cases being argued on the Court.

At the same time, lower courts have often blocked Trump actions, so we have a split judicial system, but with the Supreme Court soon to decide just how far these violations of basic human rights will be implemented long term.

The lives of these unfortunate victims are being upended, as people stay home from work and school, and are unable to pay their bills, and have to depend on others for grocery shopping.

“The American Dream” is being upended, and is, sadly, likely to get worse, under a Supreme Court more extreme than any in a century since the 1920s, as the advancements of the previous Warren and Burger Courts are being upended by the Roberts Court!

Release Of Israeli Hostages A Major Accomplishment For Donald Trump, BUT What About Preserving Democracy In America?

The deal struck by President Donald Trump that has led today to the release of Israeli hostages is a major accomplishment, for which Trump deserves credit and praise.

However, Trump is over the top in his belief that a new world has emerged in the Middle East, as if this arrangement solves all of the issues involving the Palestinians and Israel, and the reality that Hamas has not been totally dissolved.

So the likelihood is for future warfare and conflict, and more bloodshed down the road, if not immediately.

This is a sad situation, but is a realistic assessment.

So while Trump can be praised for what he has done, and it has made him popular in Israel, the reality is that it does not make up for the total destruction of American democracy and the rule of law at home in America.

Trump has been engaged with his sycophants in the Cabinet, in the MAGA Republican Congress, and in the Supreme Court, in undermining the Bill of Rights.

It is clearly well along toward establishment of an authoritarian Fascist government, that is nativist, racist, misgonynist, homophobic, and imperialist oriented on the world stage, with his threats toward Latin America, Canada, and NATO, and his creating tensions around the world with his crazy tariff policies.

US Supreme Court Promotes Racial Profiling! A Disgrace For Court’s Reputation Of Upholding The Constitution!

The US Supreme Court is supposed to uphold the Constitution and enforce the Bill of Rights.

In its past, it has often NOT done such, and now, in the present, the Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts, has reached a new low in its reputation and image.

It has endorsed racial profiling as permissible in seven Los Angeles area counties by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the National Guard. But once that is permitted, it can be expanded to everywhere, even though the Court said this was a “temporary” situation, not a final determination.

However, it is now open season for anyone who “looks” Latino, speaks with a Spanish accent, or has an Hispanic last name to be detained and put into a “hell hole”, at least in the Los Angeles area but likely to be expanded.

These victims of an oppressive government are denied due process, and subjected to lack of food, water, medicine, even a bed to sleep on while being held without trial, and in many cases, rapidly deported, by the order of Kristi Noem, Thomas Homan, Stephen Miller, Pam Bondi, and all of the other lawless Donald Trump lackeys!

Anyone who believes in basic civil liberties and sees America as the last great hope for oppressed people around the world has to be mourning and crying at what the American people, in their prejudice and bias and ignorance, have wrought upon the nation by electing Donald Trump to a second term, after the criminal actions he perpetrated in the first term!

Immigration And Customs Enforcement (ICE) Has Become A Pure Dictatorship, Planning Massive Incarceration With No Legal Recourse For Immigrant Victims!

It is totally shocking that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has, by actions of the Trump Administration, become a pure dictatorship, with the aim of massive incarceration of millions of immigrants with no legal recourse to utilize against such action, as the aim is to deport millions over the next few years. This has been revealed in an exclusive exposure by the Washington Post yesterday.

The plans of Kristi Noem, Thomas Homan, Stephen Miller and others in the Trump Administration are moving toward an evil likely even worse than the internment of Japanese Americans in World War II.

This is totally against the Bill of Rights, and is pure Fascism, with the horrid conditions at the new “Alligator Alcatraz” a sign of the mistreatment awaiting the immigrant victims while they wait for deportation, often to nations that speak a different language, and to which they have no personal or family ties.

Breaking up of families and mistreatment that includes lack of sanitation, health care, and malnutrition, all conditions that make for what could be called “internment” camps, but some would say “concentration” camps, is the future, unless somehow, this monstrosity can be deterred.

But legally, it seems at this point like a losing cause, as America descends into a right wing, fanatical dictatorship, even threatening critics who are not immigrants, for their outspokenness in criticism!

Independence Day 2025 NOT A Day To Celebrate, As America Is In Constitutional Crisis!

Today is the 249th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and it should be a day of celebration.

But it is extremely difficult to feel excitement or thrills, as America is on the cusp of Fascist authoritarianism after nearly six months of the second Donald Trump Presidency.

With many corporations, the Republican party in Congress, the Supreme Court, and some of the news media, kowtowing to Trump and his Cabinet and other supporters, the feeling is that what America fought for two and a half centuries ago, is being lost, without much hope of a turnaround any time soon.

The Democratic Party and the defiant news media sources continue to fight against the trends that have emerged, but now, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) having a larger enforcement budget just enacted, it is clear what is occurring.

Mass arrests and deportations are violating the major tenets of our Constitution, and the Bill of Rights is under attack, with little likelihood of a challenge, at least short term, that will reverse the damage that has been done, and is being done by the “Big and Beautiful” Budget bill that just passed into law yesterday, and was, a short time ago, signed into law at a White House ceremony!

Trump Utilizing National Guard In Los Angeles, Defying Governor And Mayor, Highly Unusual!

With immigration raids and arrests mounting all over the nation, but particularly in the major cities of Los Angeles and New York City, Donald Trump has taken the step of escalating his authoritarian impluses by deciding to utilize the National Guard in LA, against the wishes of Governor Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass. It is extremely unusual and rare to take such an action against the recomendations of state and local officials.

This is clearly seen as a move toward total crackdown on basic civil liberties, perpetrated by Thomas Homan, Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem, Pam Bondi, Pete Hegseth, and a host of other Trump appointees.

We have entered a “police state” situation, with great danger of massive violence and bloodshed, and it could spread quickly around the nation, and lead to the potential of civil war, a horrifying scenario!

There is no indication of massive violence, just of street protests, so this is a power grab by Trump and his government perpetrated to justify suspension of basic First Amendment rights.

It is not clear what can be done about the aggressive and abusive moves inititated by Donald Trump, so we are in a period of great mourning for our Constitution, rule of law, and American democracy!

Scott Pelley Of “Sixty Minutes” Issues Warning On Authoritarianism!

Journalist Scott Pelley of CBS’s “Sixty Minutes”, has many years of reputable work at that news source. He gave a scathing commencement speech at Wake Forest University in North Carolina a week ago, against the authoritarian ideology of Donald Trump, which has provoked wild, vehement accusations from Fox News Channel and its disgraceful talk show hosts.

Pelley, rightfully, warned of the threat to freedom of speech and press represented by the Trump Administration’s attack on journalism, higher education, and law firms.

He also condemned the arrest of foreign students on visas for their use of their right of freedom of speech to criticize the Israel-Gaza War, as well as the attacks on voting rights being perpetrated by the federal government under Donald Trump.

Pelley condemned the fear being promoted by Trump loyalists who are working to undermine the Bill of Rights, and his rhetoric was uncompromising, setting an example for Americans who are terrified at the authoritarian bent of Trump and his supporters.

Pelley has been attacked as being “unhinged”, another of a multitude of examples of “projection”, accusing critics of Trump of what Trump and his supporters do regularly, speak and act in an “unhinged” manner.

Pelley is doing a great service in using his reputation to promote opposition to the dangerous trend that is running amuck around Trump, the movement toward authoritarian Fascism.

If Americans lose the First Amendment, then democracy and the rule of law is lost long term.

Donald Trump Has Declared War On Supreme Court And Other Federal Courts’ Authority!

The nation is reaching a crucial turning point, as Donald Trump has attacked the seven members of the Supreme Court, who have ruled that he cannot use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport immigrants without habeus corpus and due process.

Trump is ranting on Truth Social about this, and he and his MAGA Republican supporters have also unleashed attacks against District Court Judges and Appeals Court Judges who have ruled against his policies regarding deportation.

Chief Justice John Roberts has also made clear how disturbed he is at the attacks on the rule of law and the Constitution, as has Associate Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and even Trump appointed Amy Coney Barrett.

The fact that all three Trump Supreme Court nominees, including Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, along with Barrett, have voted against him, and that some of the District and Appeals Court Judges who have done so, are Reagan, George H W Bush, George W Bush, and even some Trump appointees, is an indication of great alarm in the judicial branch about Trump’s grabbing of power and attacks on the validity and legitimacy of the courts!

It looks as if Trump and his Cabinet officers, particularly Attorney General Pam Bondi, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Thomas Homan, and White House Adviser Stephen Miller, are hell bent on breaking the law and the Constitution, and refusing to obey the federal courts.

This is, if not stopped, a full scale attack on civil liberties, the Bill of Rights, and endangers all Americans, that any excuse could be used, without evidence or investigation, leading to massive deportations to foreign dictatorships beyond just El Salvador, with no appeal or ability to reverse such totalitarian, Fascist actions!

Arrest Of Newark, New Jersey Mayor A Danger Sign On Civil Liberties Violations!

The arrest of Newark, New Jersey Mayor Ras Baraka for “trespassing” at a new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility on Friday is a danger sign and alarm bell for the future of Civil Liberties and the Bill of Rights!

The totally horrendous Stephen Miller, White House Deputy Chief of Staff For Policy and Homeland Security Adviser to Donald Trump, is threatening that the writ of habeus corpus, guaranteed to everyone in the nation, not just citizens but all people in the country, might be suspended is a horrifying threat to the future of the American Republic.

Claiming an “invasion” by immigrants, which is not so, and with no declaration of war, is a massive abuse of the Constitution, and the federal courts, and specifically, the Supreme Court, needs to intervene expeditiously and prevent any such edict!

Attack On Universities And Freedom Of Inquiry: Discrimination Against Foreign Students!

The Donald Trump Administration has declared war on freedom of inquiry on college and university campuses, and have arrested and plan to deport foreign students on visas who have expressed criticism of the Israel-Gaza War, which has killed over 50,000 Palestinians, a vast majority being women and children, NOT Hamas terrorists. The government is claiming that these students expressing their views are a threat to national security.

This author and blogger agrees that Hamas is a terrorist organization, responsible for the deaths of 1,200 Israelis on October 7, 2023, the greatest loss of Jewish lives since the Nazi Holocaust of World War II, which murdered close to 6 million Jews in Europe.

One can consider Hamas reprehensible, and consider the right of a strong response to that horrendous massacre nearly 18 months ago. But with the continued assault and lack of concern about the loss of innocent Palestinian lives with no sign of ending, the fact that people of conscience and principle might speak out or write against the continued tragedy, should not be grounds for arrest and deportation for expression of their freedom of speech.

If violence takes place, that is a different story, but there is no indication that foreign students who have been detained and sent to a Louisiana ICE Prison facility, have indeed been engaged in more than their constitutional rights to the First Amendment rights of freedom of speech, press, and assembly, with all who are living in the United States being entitled to such rights. The late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia had stated that such was the case.

The use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 had not been used since World War II, and has only been used three times in a situation of declarations of war, which is not the case presently.

So Secretary of State Marco Rubio has abused his power to order arrests based solely on the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 and the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 during the Red Scare “McCarthyism” Era, and reinforced in updating of the law in 1988. Again, Scalia had so declared his belief that these laws went too far!