There are 4 Lights!

[karmicdragonfly]

The Star Trek scene, now meme, referenced in the title, has cropped up in my head several times lately as a response to the rivers, nay tsunamis, of utter nonsense and bullshit bombarded onto our heads from the Trump-Musk-Heritage Foundation-MAGA-Republican fronts:
https://youtu.be/wjKQQpPVifY?t=95.

It's as if I have to constantly re-orient myself from what I hear towards observable facts. And I know that's part of the plan -- flood with so much bullshit that people have trouble discerning truth from (increasingly horrifying) facts.

While searching for the meme, I came across this related article:
https://klonick.substack.com/p/there-are-four-lights-elon

Lately, the weight on my mod, to use the Old English word for mind/spirit/heart/feelings, is how TSA is treating legal incoming travelers and legal long-term US residents.

It's not only that they are turning back people who have lived in the US legally for years, but how those people are treated while detained.

• Columbia University Student:
  https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgj5nlxz44yo
  
  
• German Hiker:
  https://thetrek.co/a-german-thru-hiker-has-been-detained-deported-and-banned-from-the-us-without-a-hearing-heres-what-you-need-to-know/#:~:text=Ananias%20had%20expected%20the%20journey,work%20illegally%20in%20the%20US.
  
  
• German Electrical Engineer:
  https://ca.news.yahoo.com/german-national-arrested-boston-airport-210839690.html

And none of this even covers the people being flown to El Salvadoran prisons, in defiance of a court order.

Comments

[mtbc]

Interesting times indeed, in the worst way. Now the Trump administration is even more clearly simply violating the rule of law, how many people will it hurt before there is finally sufficient pushback? How much contempt for the judiciary can they get away with? Especially as the DoJ is the administration's puppet and lawyers opposing the administration can expect retribution. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/03/16/metro/dr-rasha-alawieh-ri-doctor-deported-lebanon-against-judge-order-protest-hearing/ is another example.

[karmicdragonfly]

I hadn't answered your (maybe rhetorical) questions, because I am not hopeful.

The bottom line for all political systems is that if the executive branch ignores the judiciary, and the legislative branch supports this (or is weak), then it's the military that decides.

There has been at least one somewhat situation like this -- Andrew Jackson, who ignored the Supreme Court's order that Georgia could not enforce a law on the Cherokee Nation. That's how we got the Trail of Tears for some Native American tribes. To quote the Wikipedia article:

According to historian Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Jackson's intentions were outwardly violent. Dunbar-Ortiz claims that Jackson believed in "bleeding enemies to give them their senses" on his quest to "serve the goal of U.S. expansion". According to her, American Indians presented an obstacle to the fulfillment of Manifest Destiny, ...."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trail_of_Tears

The Trail of Tears was carried out by the military.

The world is very different now though, so I don't look to that earlier time period for answers. Considering that the government has the ability to track and surveil citizens and their communications and financial transactions, and with a large swath of the populace getting only supportive information about the regime, and with a planned, concerted effort by Christo-Nationalists and oligarchs, I consider things to be dire.

The US is transforming into Hungary, Russia, etc., and indeed Orban made multiple visits to visit Maralago, presumably as an advisor.

For what it's worth, I have also seen videos of Republican Senators and Representatives being jeered by their former supporters. I believe this is a situation of things starting to hurt them. And I believe that if things do not hurt these folks, then they will just continue to support what's happening -- it will only be personal pain that will open their eyes.

I am not sure it will help, but I'm considering going to DC for the upcoming demonstration on the Mall. There is also one happening in my city the same day. I do believe the local protests have been getting larger since that one I went to in February.


As a post script:
I have several friends who do not realize, or who more likely are not ready to think about how dire the situation is.

They know things are bad, but I heard a friend the other day, discussing the slew of judges' orders blocking the regime's actions, say: "I think our system is finally starting to work." I heard another friend say "it will be a rough 4 years."

[mtbc]

Thanks for your interesting response! I certainly wasn't ready for how well-planned these various efforts are looking to be, I had been too hopeful of them being too inept to achieve much. Of course, one now also has half an eye on what happens to Istanbul's mayor.