Losing My Perspicacity March 10, 2025

Good morning and Happy Monday. Thanks for hanging out with me this morning.

When I was in 8th grade, I discovered Amnesty International. For the next four years, it was a huge part of my life, and I eventually headed up the AI club at my high school. Most of what student activists do in AI is letter-writing campaigns — seeking the release of prisoners of conscience in “third world” banana republics by putting the pressure of international attention on their governments. We used to regularly write things in our letters like “We see you” or “The whole world is watching.“ Often, the prisoners we were writing on behalf of had been “disappeared” by their governments — taken away in the night and detained in places where their lawyers and family members couldn’t reach them.

I regret to inform you all that the United States has now disappeared a Columbia University student — a holder of permanent residency in the US — because of his pro-Palestinian advocacy on campus. I never thought I would see this in the United States of America.

NYT:

Let’s be clear: This isn’t a student protestor who was arrested and charged for trespassing, property damage, or some other crime committed during a protest. This is a student who ostensibly committed no crime other than expressing a viewpoint opposed to that of the Trump administration.

This, of course, comes on the heels of Donald Trump pulling $400 million in federal funding from Columbia due to the same “antisemitism.” It’s worth noting that protesting genocide will get your green card revoked by this administration, while being charged with rape and human trafficking gets you a private jet ride to Florida.

During my time as a public defender, I saw a lot of authoritarian state bullshit from suburban Chicago cops, but this is on a whole different level. While revoking a visa is relatively common, revoking a green card requires an allegation of a violation of immigration law and a hearing in front of an immigration judge, many of which Trump just fired. And, despite Marco Rubio’s tweet that the State Department will be revoking green cards, that’s Homeland Security’s job.

It’s almost like no one in this administration knows what they’re doing.

And hey, maybe you’re thinking, “Well, this guy isn’t an American citizen, and he was participating in ‘trouble’ on campus. The feds are within their rights to deport him.”

If so, here’s what you need to know: The disappearance of a permanent resident, without notification to his family or legal representation, for his speech and beliefs, though he committed no crime, is so far beyond the pale of the First Amendment and due process that it practically tears up the Constitution and flushes it down the toilet. If they can do this to Mahmoud Khalil, they can do this to any one of us, citizenship status be damned. Fascists will always find a justification for their actions, and they’ll have stacked the court system well enough that they’ll win every challenge.

This is how democracy dies.

And lest you doubt that the revocation of “DEI hires” in the federal government has left us with nothing but America’s best and brightest in federal agencies, the first thing ICE agents told Khalil was that his student visa was being revoked. When he informed the agents that he didn’t have a student visa — he had a green card — ICE told him that it was revoked, despite completely ignoring the established legal process for the recission of a green card. According to ABC News, ICE agents also hung up on Khalil’s attorney.

Despite what Trump and Rubio have shared on social media, there’s no evidence I could find that Khalil is a supporter of Hamas. Even if he was a vocal supporter of Hamas, that falls under the guise of free speech and is not a crime — just as it wasn’t a crime for Nazis to march through Skokie or the Klan to have public rallies. My point isn’t to minimize the harm those groups have caused, but if we’re giving armed Nazis a police escort through Ohio, we’d better be prepared to accept people whose politics sometimes align with Hamas.

The bigger problem here is that America has elected a man as President who doesn’t know the laws, doesn’t believe the laws apply to him, and truly believes no one can prevent a sitting President from doing anything he wants to do. If Trump’s “L’etat, c’est moi” posts weren’t warning enough, suppressing personal liberties by deporting people should be a big, blaring red hockey goal light.

Despite what many believe, the Bill of Rights does not apply only to US citizens. It applies to everyone within the purview of the US government. The Trump administration will test the limits of what they can get away with on a non-citizen before they move on to the rest of us.

Khalil’s lawyers have filed an emergency habeas corpus petition with a federal court to challenge both his arrest and detention. Any judge with a soul would put an end to this madness immediately, but the GOP has had years to put their judges on the federal bench, so who knows what will happen. But make no mistake: This is deranged and the most blatant violation of the Constitution.

Apropos of nothing, yesterday, the US wound up on an international watch list due to a “rapid decline in civic freedoms.”

JD Vance gets caught lying

JD Vance, who everyone keeps forgetting about until he pops his head up and says something stupid, was caught playing fast and loose with claims that a mob screamed at him while out with his 3-year-old daughter, frightening the child. The only problem is that someone caught it on video, and that’s not quite what it looks like.

I wonder where he got the idea of bringing a small child with him to use as a shield against criticism?

Here’s something you don’t see every day

A high school track athlete attacks another runner with the baton mid-relay.

This is another reason why banning trans women from sports is dumb — cis women are plenty violent and dangerous on their own. Ask anyone who played high school girls’ soccer.

I’m guessing the bludgeoner believed the bludgeonee stepped into her lane or othewise impeded her running, but I’ll be honest, I’ve seen worse from female athletes who just got competitive and mad.

The victim suffered a concussion and possibly a fractured skull, and the woman who hit her is probably going to be charged with a crime. Hitting someone in the head with a metal baton is battery, no matter how you slice it.

Elon Musk has cracked

Unable to believe that the majority of Americans simply don’t like him or his actions and want him out of our government, Elon Musk has begun blaming a wide-ranging conspiracy for the Telsa protests.

Big “We should totally just stab Ceasar!” vibes. Sure, Elon, it’s a vast conspiracy concocted by a bunch of Jewish Americans, rather than the natural consequence of you firing all our federal workers. Also, Herbert Sandler died in 2019.

The antisemitism is never far from the surface.

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.

Please enjoy Paris Paloma bringing her female rage anthem to Colbert on Thursday night.

Survive and advance today, kids. Don’t let the bastards get you down.