Trump Administration Sending People To Prison in El Salvador

[DocWatts]

39 minutes ago, Ulax said:

Wait they’re actually doing this? I presumed it was just rhetoric 

It was never 'just' rhetoric - Trump's intentions were never hidden, they were stated openly and proudly.

Just as Hitler's contempt for the Jews was never an 'open secret' but loudly declared from the very beginning, Trump is doing exactly what he campaigned on.

Even after a decade of creeping fascism, it seems that people still have trouble believing bad actors when they're straightforwardly telling us what their plans are.

Edited April 16 by DocWatts

[Leo Gura]

@DocWatts Your passion for activism is admirable.

Thank you.

Edited April 16 by Leo Gura

[DocWatts]

1 minute ago, Leo Gura said:

@DocWatts Your passion for activism is admirable.

Thank you, Leo.

[Ulax]

7 minutes ago, DocWatts said:

It was never 'just' rhetoric - Trump's intentions were never hidden, they were stated openly and proudly.

Just as Hitler's contempt for the Jews was never an 'open secret' but loudly declared from the very beginning, Trump is doing exactly what he campaigned on.

Even after a decade of creeping fascism, it seems that people still have trouble believing bad actors when they're straightforwardly telling us what their plans are.

I dunno. When Trump threatens to invade Greenland that is just rhetoric to my mind. It’s not so black and white that he is always stating his actual intentions imo

[aurum]

5 hours ago, Ulax said:

I dunno. When Trump threatens to invade Greenland that is just rhetoric to my mind. It’s not so black and white that he is always stating his actual intentions imo

The US has wanted Greenland for a very long time, even before Trump's first term.

It's far more than just rhetoric. It's not even Trump's idea.

Greenland is central to current geopolitical power struggle between major powers.

[DocWatts]

6 hours ago, Ulax said:

I dunno. When Trump threatens to invade Greenland that is just rhetoric to my mind. It’s not so black and white that he is always stating his actual intentions imo

Greenland's citizens aren't treating Trump's annexation threats as a joke - they're treating it as a threat to their national sovereignty.

Same goes for Canada - within just 100 days he's managed to torch a two century old military, economic, and cultural alliance between our two countries. And he's almost singlehandedly tipped Canada's national elections from being a slam dunk for the Conservatives to a likely Liberal victory. Do you know how much you have to f*ck up to get Canadian hockey fans to boo America's national anthem?

What you have to understand this isn't the Trump of 2017. All of the adults who reigned him in during his first administration are GONE. The institutional guardrails that could have prevented him from doing something crazy have been eroded down to symbolic speedbumps with no real enforcement mechanisms behind them.

In short, there's no one left to tell the Mad King 'NO'.

Millions of Americans taking to the streets and withholding their cooperation with the regime, while demanding that our elected officials do their damned jobs and uphold the US Constitution, is one of the last checks on Trump's power that we have left.

Edited April 16 by DocWatts

[kray]

On 4/13/2025 at 3:40 AM, Something Funny said:

I think more people should talk about this. Everybody is freaking out about tariffs but this is actually insane if you think about it. They are just grabbing people with little to no research, no trial, and deporting them to a foreign country to be imprisoned for life, probably (or die much sooner).And its not even doing it to people who migrated from Salvador. I've just read a news story about a guy from VENEZUELA who was waiting for the court to clear his asylum claim, but was sent to El Salvador, without any trial:
 

How does this make any sense? Imagine committing no crime and then being sent to a prison in a foreign country that you have nothing to do with, for life, basically. This is so messed up. 

This is just a complete disregard for the rule of law and any idea of human rights. This is something that some 3rd world African country would do. How is it possible that the US just plunged to that kind of level of development just because of the change in president? Shouldn't there be more checks and balances to prevent this kind of stuff no matter how retarded the president is?

To be fair, the USA has a long history of pretty shady practices. Look up the bracero program. As part of it, legal Mexican Americans were deported to Mexico, on the basis of being Mexican. 

[Joshe]

Doesn’t look good for Garcia. From Axios: “The Department of Justice said Tuesday that even if Abrego Garcia manages to return to the U.S., he will be detained and removed from the country.”

The Justice Department released records from the Prince George's County Police Department in Maryland showing Abrego Garcia was arrested in 2019 on suspicion of being in the country illegally.

According to the document, a confidential informant "who has provided truthful accurate information in the past" accused Abrego Garcia of being a member of MS-13.”

[Socrates]

On 4/15/2025 at 9:10 AM, Leo Gura said:

Yes, it's going to get a lot more unhinged. We've only seen the tip of the depravity.

Are we gonna be so nonchalant about this? 

If you care about "conscious anything" in these times, your only goal should be to get rid of Trump and make a democracy 2.0 that is idiot-proof, meaning no bad actor can destroy it from within.

Like Aristotle said, "The Purpose of Knowledge is Action, not Knowledge" and I agree with that quote in the political context.

 Conscious politics entail helping society evolve from whatever stage it is at. At the current state of an imminent threat of fascism, if you aren't actively acting against it, you could be called an accomplice.

Way too many people wanna talk bullshit about conscious politics when in fact they dont even the balls to embody Red/Blue and defend the constitution. Talk is cheap, action speaks louder, and only through action can you embody a stage.

Are you guys gonna wait until they come to deport your family members? Do you even have the courage to shoot an ICE agent if you knew he would 100% deport your family member to a death camp?

Compliance = consent and submission to fascism makes you a slave, not a conscious philosopher.

This isn't specifically aimed at Leo, but to anyone who acts as a "yellow" e-philosopher but can't even embody red/blue.

 

 

[DocWatts]

1 hour ago, Socrates said:

Way too many people wanna talk bullshit about conscious politics when in fact they don't even the balls to embody Red/Blue and defend the constitution. Talk is cheap, action speaks louder, and only through action can you embody a stage.

Are you guys gonna wait until they come to deport your family members? Do you even have the courage to shoot an ICE agent if you knew he would 100% deport your family member to a death camp?

Compliance = consent and submission to fascism makes you a slave, not a conscious philosopher.

This isn't specifically aimed at Leo, but to anyone who acts as a "yellow" e-philosopher but can't even embody red/blue.

Thank you for this - talking the talk isn't enough, you also need to walk the walk. 

We need less intellectualizing on 'what this moment means', and more instrumental engagement. You don't have it figured-all-out to make a positive impact in the pro-democracy movement - unsexy stuff like attending demonstrations, providing mutual aid, and having difficult conversations with friends and family who are tuned out to what is going on right now.

Find a way to integrate in-person civic engagement into your life (posting on an internet forum does not count as civic engagement, fyi). If you live in the States, one easy way to get your toes wet is to find your local Indivisible chapter and attend the next meeting.

Another is to grab the 5calls app and flood your state representatives with voicemails to uphold the Rule Of Law and the US Constitution. Yet another is to withhold your wallet from companies like Amazon and Target that have bent the knee to Trump.

If you ever wondered what you would have done in 1930s Germany or during the Civil Rights movement, you're doing it now.

 

Edited April 18 by DocWatts

[Yimpa]

18 hours ago, DocWatts said:

If you ever wondered what you would have done in 1930s Germany or during the Civil Rights movement, you're doing it now.

Nah, they didn’t have social media back then. It’s a totally different day.

Edited April 18 by Yimpa

[BlessedLion]

Holy fuck

 

I may actually stay abroad. Like legit 

[BlessedLion]

On 4/16/2025 at 5:50 PM, DocWatts said:

In short, there's no one left to tell the Mad King 'NO'.

His circle of goons are absolutely spineless and you can see no soul in their eyes. Just check out that video I shared and look at the photos of them 

[BlessedLion]

19 hours ago, DocWatts said:

Thank you for this - talking the talk isn't enough, you also need to walk the walk. 

We need less intellectualizing on 'what this moment means', and more instrumental engagement. You don't have it figured-all-out to make a positive impact in the pro-democracy movement - unsexy stuff like attending demonstrations, providing mutual aid, and having difficult conversations with friends and family who are tuned out to what is going on right now.

Find a way to integrate in-person civic engagement into your life (posting on an internet forum does not count as civic engagement, fyi). If you live in the States, one easy way to get your toes wet is to find your local Indivisible chapter and attend the next meeting.

Another is to grab the 5calls app and flood your state representatives with voicemails to uphold the Rule Of Law and the US Constitution. Yet another is to withhold your wallet from companies like Amazon and Target that have bent the knee to Trump.

If you ever wondered what you would have done in 1930s Germany or during the Civil Rights movement, you're doing it now.

 

What’s the most potent and effective way to fight back Trump and also the Palestinian Genocide- realistically? Protesting? Boycotting? 

[DocWatts]

3 hours ago, BlessedLion said:

What’s the most potent and effective way to fight back Trump and also the Palestinian Genocide- realistically? Protesting? Boycotting? 

Realistically, we're not going to get far fighting this as isolated individuals. This is a collective action problem - that means organizing into resilient communities that can come together to form a Popular Front against fascism.

A nonviolent resistance movement that involves active and sustained participation by at least 3.5% of a country's population has proven to be the most successful strategy for resisting authoritarian regimes in the 20th and 21st century.

Indivisible and 50501 are good places to start. There's a good chance that there's a local Indivisible chapter for whatever metropolitan area that you lived in when you were in the 'States. Groups like these help channel individuals into forms of civic participation with a coordinated strategy behind it.

As an individual living abroad, you can still attend demonstrations and participate in sustained boycotts against companies like Amazon, but honestly your best bet is finding a pro-democracy group to work with.

Remember - apes together strong.
 

Edited April 18 by DocWatts

[DocWatts]

2 hours ago, Yimpa said:

Nah, they didn’t have social media back then. It’s a totally different day.

Not really sure what you mean by this.

[Hojo]

@Ulax I dont think its rhetoric. No one even thinks about it. Him saying it is a result of him thinking about it. Its totally random.