Destroying 21st Century America, Cont.

 

Some brief news items this morning offering further evidence of the Malignant Fascist's and his toady Republican MAGAts' determination to destroy the emerging 21st Century America, with its “principles of justice, liberty and perfect humanity equality.” 

Republican gerrymandering goons

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) announced Thursday that the FBI had accepted his request to track down Democratic state lawmakers from Texas who left home in order to block a redistricting plan that heavily favors the GOP.

Cornyn had asked the FBI to step in earlier in the week to arrest the Democrats; his statement Thursday said the agency agreed to “assist state and local law enforcement in locating” them. It is not clear precisely what role the FBI will play.

The Texas Democrats have spread out to states led by other Democrats, particularly Illinois, where a bomb threat forced them to evacuate from a hotel just one day ago.

ICE goons

Early Wednesday morning, masked ICE agents barrelled out of a Penske truck to raid a Los Angeles Home Depot for immigrants.

Videos shared across social media and Fox News show the people scattering across the street as camouflaged agents pursue them.

A federal judge issued an order last month halting racial profiling and the use of roving patrols to target immigrants, but now that seems to be thrown to the wayside. According to the U.S. Border Patrol El Centro Sector Chief Greg Bovino, they’re “not leaving.”

The Penske truck attack was dubbed “Operation Trojan Horse” by Bovino and resulted in the arrest of 16 immigrants.

“For those who thought immigration enforcement had stopped in Southern California, think again,” Bill Essayli, acting U.S. attorney for Central California, posted on X. “The enforcement of federal law is not negotiable, and there are no sanctuaries from the reach of the federal government.”

But Penske decried the use of their vehicles after videos began to go viral.  [snip]

Regardless of lower judicial orders, the Department of Justice is doubling down on its attack against sanctuary cities like Los Angeles. 

On Tuesday, the DOJ announced a list of 35 “sanctuary” jurisdictions, vowing to bring lawsuits against states, counties, and cities that limit local cooperation with ICE agents...

Human rights

Leaked drafts of the State Department’s long-delayed annual human rights reports indicate that the Trump administration intends to dramatically scale back U.S. government criticism of certain foreign nations with extensive records of abuse.

The draft human rights reports for El Salvador, Israel and Russia, copies of which were reviewed by The Washington Post, are significantly shorter than the ones prepared last year by the Biden administration. They strike all references to LGBTQ+ individuals or crimes against them, and the descriptions of government abuses that do remain have been softened.

The draft report for El Salvador — which, at the Trump administration’s urging, has agreed to incarcerate migrants deported from the United States — states that the country had “no credible reports of significant human rights abuses” in 2024. The State Department’s previous report for El Salvador, documenting 2023, identified “significant human rights issues” there — including government-sanctioned killings, instances of torture, and “harsh and life-threatening prison conditions.”...

Global climate change

The Trump administration is moving to shut down two NASA missions that monitor a potent greenhouse gas and plant health, potentially shutting off an important source of data for scientists, policymakers and farmers.

President Donald Trump’s budget request for fiscal year 2026 includes no money for the Orbiting Carbon Observatories, which can precisely show where carbon dioxide is being emitted and absorbed and how well crops are growing.

NASA said in an emailed statement Wednesday that the missions were “beyond their prime mission” and being terminated “to align with the President’s agenda and budget priorities.”

But the missions — a free-flying satellite launched in 2014 and an instrument attached to the International Space Station in 2019 that include technology used in the Hubble Space Telescope — still are more sensitive and accurate than any other systems in the world, operating or planned, and a “national asset” that should be saved, said David Crisp, a retired NASA scientist who led their development...

Union busting

The Department of Veterans Affairs is terminating collective bargaining agreements with several key government unions representing its employees.

In an announcement Wednesday, the VA said the move is in response to an executive order President Donald Trump signed in March that nixed collective bargaining rights for many federal workers in the name of national security.

The agency’s decision comes after a federal appellate court lifted a lower court ban on the ending of union contracts on Friday, although the Trump administration previously issued guidance that agencies should not terminate any collective bargaining agreements until litigation challenging the order is over...

It's going to be an overwhelming challenge to someday right the wrongs of these evil times.  But when we have our moment, we need to seize it and spare nothing to make sure these wrongs are reversed and those who perpetrated them are crushed.