Losing My Perpsicacity April 11, 2025

Who are Americans, and what do we care about?

Author

Julie DiCaro
April 11, 2025

Good morning and Happy Friday! Thanks for reading today.

If we were looking for a metaphor for how things are currently going in the federal government, I think this pretty much sums it up.

This reporting has mostly come via social media, so I’m still waiting for a legacy outlet to report that Trump is insisting that his staff and Congressional Republicans wear this abomination, but at least the chair of the FTC has already been seen wearing one. As I keep saying, our parents and teachers taught us the story of the “Emperor’s New Clothes” for a reason. Too bad they never taught us how to deprogram all the sycophants hyping up the Emperor’s clothes. That would come in real handy right about now.

Just as I sat down to write this newsletter, SCOTUS dropped a unanimous opinion, written by Justice Sotomayor, First of Her Name, Queen of the Bill of Rights and Due Process, The Unbroken, Tamer of Conseratives and Originalists, upholding federal district court Judge Paula Xinis’ order that the US make efforts to return Kilmar Brego Garcia to the United States. Yes, Samuel Alito and Sotomayor were on the same side on this one. Miracles happen.

The Trump Administration had asked SCOTUS to overrule Xinis’s order, which originally told the US to have Brego Garcia back on US soil by Monday night, but SCOTUS did the opposite, stating that the federal government had to “facilitate” Brego Garcia’s return to the US. The only change SCOTUS made to the lower court order was swapping in the term “facilitate” for “effectuate.” Lawyers are still scratching their heads over exactly what that means, but it’s clear that SCOTUS ruled 9-0 that the Trump Administration can’t just not care when people are denied due process or when they make clerical errors. If I had to guess, I’d say “facilitate” means ICE has to at least make an effort, which could be something as low-effort as picking up the phone and making a call. “Effectuate” feels more like “ensure, which would have been ideal, but I’m still shocked that this one came down 9-0, so I’ll take it.

Make no mistake, Trump will do the bare minimum to comply with the order, but let’s hope that’s enough to get Brego Garcia home very soon.

In a separate statement, Sotomayor, with Justices Kagan and Jackson joining, chastised the Administration for their handling of Brego Garcia’s entire case:

To this day, the Government has cited no basis in law for Abrego Garcia’s warrantless arrest, his removal to El Salvador, or his confinement in a Salvadoran prison. Nor could it.

Instead of hastening to correct its egregious error, the Government dismissed it as an “oversight.” 

The Government now requests an order from this Court permitting it to leave Abrego Garcia, a husband and father without a criminal record, in a Salvadoran prison for no reason recognized by the law. The only argument the Government offers in support of its request, that United States courts cannot grant relief once a deportee crosses the border, is plainly wrong. 

The Government’s argument, moreover, implies that it could deport and incarcerate any person, including U. S. citizens, without legal consequence, so long as it does so before a court can intervene.

But here’s the kicker Sotomayor ended with:

In the proceedings on remand, the District Court should continue to ensure that the Government lives up to its obligations to follow the law.

Needless to say, “Please make sure these assholes actually follow the law” is not a typical ending for a Supreme Court opinion. Nevertheless, it was warranted.

We’re coming up on LMP’s first anniversary! On Wednesday, I’ll have been writing this newsletter for a year, and I’m grateful for the opportunity and for each of you. Between now and then, you can subscribe to LMP for the remainder of the year for just $50, which is nearly 50 percent of the regular price. I hope you’ll consider upgrading to a paid subscription, which helps defray the cost of putting LMP out five days a week.

Today: Who are we, as Americans? The SAVE Act heads to the Senate; If only there had been some warning about Tyreek Hill; Tom Homan isn’t weird at all; and The High Note

Let’s get into it.

Who are Americans?

One of the universal truths of authoritarianism is that there are always men willing to abandon their principles in exchange for proximity to power, and there are always women willing to participate in the subjugation of other women for the same reason. But I did not expect most of America to get fired up over tariff prices while mostly ignoring that people are being disappeared off the streets of the U.S. and trafficked to foreign prisons without the benefit of due process.

I was president of my high school’s Amnesty International chapter, and I remember writing letters to Chilean authorities about “The Disappeared.” At the time, the practice of grabbing people off the streets, throwing them into a van, and tossing them in prison (usually for their ideas about government) was unfathomable to me — that was the kind of thing Weekly Reader told us the KGB did. That it would eventually happen in America, and that it would be met largely with a shrug from the American people, was incomprehensible.

Last night, I started an Excel spreadsheet of all the students and professors who have been targeted by ICE. It’s happening more quickly now, and the names are harder to find. Schools like Buffalo and the University of Minnesota have said they will not release the names of detained students. To the extent you come across them, please send them my way.

As every expert on extremism and fascism has pointed out, authoritarian regimes often try out unlawful practices on immigrants — those they believe the country will not defend — before they move on to using those same unlawful practices on citizens. The Trump Administration has already floated two extraordinarily worrying ideas: The first is that not everyone is entitled to due process (wrong), and the second is that there are different levels of citizenship in the US. That, of course, is before we even get to the graphic that ICE is sharing on social media:

You’ll note that ICE believes its job is to STOP “People, Money, Products, and IDEAS.” Ideas. They want to stop IDEAS. How does something like that get approved and posted on social media? Because it appears that no one at ICE thought it was a problem.

As I’m cataloguing students detained by ICE, one thing I’ve encountered over and over is that student visas are being revoked for expressing ideas the right doesn’t like. Rumeysa Ozturk, for example, co-wrote an op-ed that criticized how Tufts was responding to the bombing in Gaza. That’s it. That’s what got her tossed into a van by plainclothes ICE agents and shipped off to Louisana.

It’s devastating that Americans will take to the streets over tariffs and tax cuts for the rich, but not for international students being imprisoned for their ideas. Especially when the places they are being held in are so inhumane.

NEW: Rümeysa Öztürk says she's had 4 painful asthma attacks in ICE custody, and not only is her asthma going untreated but a nurse tore off her hijab, saying, "You need to take that thing off your head." www.aclum.org/sites/defaul...

— Joshua J. Friedman (@joshuajfriedman.com)2025-04-10T22:24:49.265Z

Moreover, despite Karoline Leavitt and Pam Bondi insisting those being transported out of the US are “the worst of the worst,” — rapists, criminals, and gang members — multiple investigations have found that somewhere in between 75 and 90 percent of those trafficked to El Salvador had no criminal record in the United States. Now, they’re being held in a prison notorious for human rights violations.

I’m mostly only on Bluesky these days, which is exceptionally political, and I’m regularly shocked when I go back to other social media and see how few people outside of the news junkies are talking about this issue. One acquaintance told me she’ll start worrying “when they come for US citizens.” That’s not as far off as you might think. Unless SCOTUS slaps Trump down in a big way, which I am not optimistic about, the next group they come for will be those with “birthright citizenship,” which applies to everyone born in the jurisdiction of the United States, but which the GOP uses to mean “American kids born to undocumented parents.” If that works, they’ll move on to the rest of us.

Let’s all be the Sacket’s Harbor we want to see in the world. Until all of us are free, none of us are free.

Time to call your Senators about the SAVE Act

Despite a bajillion articles telling Americans exactly how many people the SAVE Act could disenfranchise (69 million women, for starters), the House passed the bill by a vote of 220-208. Four Democrats voted with the GOP — Jared Golden (D-ME), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA), Henry Cuellar (D-TX), and Ed Case (D-HI) — and I’d suggest we never let them forget it. This bill makes it harder for everyone to vote.

Voting rights group say the list of documents doesn’t consider the realities facing millions of Americans who do not have easy access to their birth certificates and the roughly half who do not have a U.S. passport.

They also worry about additional hurdles for women whose birth certificates don’t match their current IDs because they changed their name after getting married. There were examples of this during local elections last month in New Hampshire, which recently implemented a proof of citizenship requirement for voting.

While Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has already said the Save Act is dead on arrival, Chuck hasn’t been reading the room especially well, as of late. That means now is a great time to call your senators and ask them to vote “no,” particularly as “non-citizen” voting is not something that happens in this country in any kind of impactful way.

Audits by state officials and studies from nonpartisan (and even conservative) organizations have found voter fraud by noncitizens is, as one organization described it, “exceedingly rare.” In fact, audits by several states show that there have been small numbers of noncitizens who registered to vote, often by mistake, with far fewer casting ballots. For example, while a 2022 Georgia investigation found there were 1,634 incidents of noncitizens potentially attempting to register to vote between 1997 and 2022, these individuals were all blocked until they could provide proof of citizenship (if they had naturalized, for example).

That’s approximately 65 attempts by non-citizens to register to vote in Georgia per year. I think the Republic will survive. And and as long as we’re talking about voter fraud….

The Five Calls App already has a script up for you to use!

Gosh, if only someone had warned us about Tyreek Hill

One of the reasons I can’t stand Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs is that (aside from Reid’s horrible children) Reid has never met an abuser he wouldn’t take onto his team. Tyreek Hill was kicked off the Oklahoma State football team for allegedly choking and punching his pregnant girlfriend in the stomach. Hill was charged with felony domestic battery but struck a plea deal with prosecutors and managed to stay out of jail. While other teams were smart enough to stay far away from Hill, the Chiefs drafted him in the 4th round of the 2016 draft.

In 2019, Hill was investigated for child abuse after his three-year-old son suffered a broken arm. The Chiefs kept allowing Hill to play — until a recording of him talking to the mother of his child (the same woman he pleaded guilty to attacking in college) was released to the press.

So that was a nice, character-revealing moment.

That investigation ended without Hill facing charges.

And then, yesterday: 

SUNNY ISLES BEACH, Fla. -- Police were called to the home of Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill and his wife for a domestic dispute Monday, although no charges were filed.

***

Hill and Vaccaro told officers their argument Monday was not physical, but officers noted a visible bruise on Vaccaro's chest. She told officers she probably sustained the bruise when Hill took their daughter at the beginning of their argument and described it as an accident.

Part of the reason I was never going to last in sports media is that, too often, you’re expected to ignore this kind of thing and just do the appearance or interview or whatever with the problematic player. I was really bad at being able to ignore that kind of thing.

Tom Homan hates Taco Bell

About once a week, I think of the guy who exclaimed, in obvious distress, “If Hillary Clinton wins, there will be taco trucks on every corner!” I’ve cursed America every day since, usually while DRIVING to the closest taco truck in the Menard’s parking lot two towns over.

In Chicago, we have really good Mexican food, but I’m not above driving thru Taco Bell every once in a blue moon. But despite my lukewarm feelings on Running for the Border, I will defend TB against all comers from racists and xenophobes.

Take, for example, “Border Czar” Tom Homan. He has a real issue with Taco Bell, and it is extremely serious and not at all dumb.

Yeah! Why aren’t we using the English words for “Chalupa” or “Fajita” or “CrunchWrap Supreme?” This is America, dammit.

Reminds me of this:

(My God, these people are so dumb it’s painful.)

The High Note

Each Day, I do my best to leave you with a smile on your face, a song in your heart, and the will to fight another day.

Today, please enjoy these beavers, who out-performed the Czech government by a significant margin and saved taxpayers over a million dollars.

There will be no LMP on Monday, but I’ll be back on Tuesday. If you’re part of a subscription tier that gets the Monday edition, I’ll make sure you get one Tuesday!

Survive and advance today, don’t let the bastards get you down, and have a great weekend!

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