Recap of this week in the revolution: Supreme Court upholds order to return Abrego Garcia, Maryland restricts ICE and Fighting Oligarchy tour continues to break crowd-size records. Corporations are profiteering off of high prices and DHS Oversight Arm is shut down. Trump's insane tariff flip-flops are market manipulation, and State Department knew Ozturk was innocent. Get involved by getting informed and joining a protest on April 19th.
The Good...
Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C.
Image by Philosophicalswag from Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
In March, hundreds of men rounded up and shipped off to a slave prison in El Salvador under the claim that they were members of a violent Venezuelan gang. None of them were tried or convicted before being sentenced. Most have no criminal background. One, the Trump regime admitted was deported due to a "clerical error."
Last week, a district court judge ordered the government to "facilitate and effectuate" Abrego Garcia's return to the United States. The Government refused, taking the issue to the Supreme Court.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court upheld the district court ruling, but has asked the district court to change the language "effectuate," which may exceed the court's authority, and to update the timeline, since the initial deadline has passed.
Image by Carwil Bjork-James from Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Maryland lawmakers passed a bill restricting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) gestapo from entering schools, libraries, or churches without a warrant.
This is meant to restore similar protections on these sensitive locations that were removed by Trump on his first day in office.
Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay.
California Senator Schiff is calling for an investigation into Donald Trump's policies that have caused such chaos in the stock market over the past few weeks.
Trump's insane tariffs on the rest of the world caused the stock market to crash following the April 2 announcement of what he falsely claimed were "reciprocal" tariffs against dozens of nations.
On Tuesday, April 8, an unsubstantiated rumor that the Trump regime would pause the tariffs for 90 days caused the markets to surge in value until it was revealed that the announcement was not true. The following day, as markets continued to fall, Trump mysteriously posted this on his social media platform: "THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT" (DJT is not only Trump's initials, but also the Stock Ticker for his Trump Media and Technology Group Corporation). It seemed like a strange post until, shortly afterwards, he announced he was placing a 90-day pause on the tariffs.
The post raises the question, "who knew what the president was gonna do and did people around the president trade stock knowing the incredible gyration the market was about to go through?" The question seems to be answered, in part, by a video from a White House staffer showing Trump congratulating Charles Schwab for making $2.5b and another man who mad $900m that day.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaking at a "Fight Oligarchy" rally in Arizona.
Image by Gage Skidmore from Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) have been touring the country, delivering a message of hope in the face of the United States' descent into oligarchy.
"We've never gone through anything like this, but...despair is not an option...the stakes are just too high," said Sanders.
The tour has mostly been hitting areas that are deeply Republican, and has been drawing record crowds wherever it goes. On March 21, the tour attracted the largest crowds to date in Democratic-leaning Denver, Colorado, with an estimated 34,000 in attendance. This week, the tour broke that record in Democratic-leaning Los Angeles, California, with an estimated 36,000 people.
It is important to note that these record-sized crowds are turning out in a non-election year to hear people who are not running for any government office. While the Democratic Party is rapidly losing popularity for its lackluster response to the Trump takeover, people are desperately seeking leaders who will stand up to the regime and help the people take their country back.
The Bad...
Egg prices in 2025 have soared as bird flu cases devastate the egg laying population nationwide.
So why did Cal-Maine, the largest owner of egg-laying hens in the country, just report that it has made record profits this quarter, three times higher than the first quarter in 2024? Clearly, the company is using the rising costs of eggs due to the bird flu outbreak as an excuse to raise prices even higher so they can line their own pockets at the expense of the American public. The company has also collected over $40 million in "relief" payments from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that are meant to help companies struggling to restock their devastated flocks.
The Justice Department's anti-trust division is launching an investigation into the company for "using the crisis as cover to reap record high profits."
Image by Mobilus In Mobili from Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
Musk's rats are digging their claws into the Department of Homeland Security's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL). This small, sparsely-funded program investigates accusations of violations of the rights of immigrants and U.S. citizens by the DHS.
On March 21, DHS Secretary Noem shut down the office and fired the entire staff. This move has left 600 active civil rights abuse investigations in limbo. It also removes a critical balance, mandated by Congress, to ensure that DHS operations respect the law. Removing this office allows DHS to violate civil rights of anyone without any oversight.
"They don't want oversight," said a senior official. "They don't care about civil rights and civil liberties." CRCL would normally stand as the first line of defense for anyone arrested for First Amendment protected speech or for anyone subjected to unreasonable searches and seizure at our ports of entry.
Trump's executive order on showerheads is nothing more than a joke, but his anti-regulation stance poses serious concerns for American businesses and for consumers.
Regulations around standards of manufacturing are put in place to protect consumers from sub-par products flooding the marketplace with cheap, and potentially dangerous products that don't stand up to normal use. While some businesses see regulations as red-tape they have to cut through, these regulations also protect their bottom line...unless they want to be the ones building the shoddy products to pawn off to consumers as the real thing.
While Trump's executive order won't amount to any meaningful changes, the cuts DOGE is making to cut funding for the agencies that develop and enforce these regulations will make it impossible to enforce existing standards or create new ones. Far from benefiting American manufacturing, this will open the door to foreign companies eager to exploit markets in unregulated countries.
The Ugly...
Stock Market, April 5, 2025
In the most blatant and wide-reaching case of market manipulation ever seen, Donald Trump sends markets crashing and soaring, then brags about how much money his friends made in the ensuing chaos.
As he always does, Trump takes two steps over the line, people panic, and then he backs off one step and people let him get away with it. Note that he still crossed the line. And like everything he does, this action was not a plan, just a "look what I can do" example of market manipulation.
On a side note...pausing the tariffs for 90 days also allows the news to settle in and means that if or when the tariffs are reinstated, they will be old news.
Image by Tony Webster from Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
The House of Representatives voted to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act.
The SAVE act introduces new barriers to voters hoping to register to vote or update their voter registration. The Act claims it will prevent voter fraud by requiring voters to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote. That sounds reasonable, but it is a measure introduced to fix a non-existent problem...we just don't have a problem with non-citizens registering (It may happen, but not enough to have a meaningful impact).
In reality, the SAVE Act will disenfranchise voters, particularly the poor and women, by requiring additional documentation besides a driver's license or state id, which already prove citizenship. These extra documents are very regularly lost or destroyed and need to be replaced, which many poor and rural people don't bother to do. In addition, anyone who has changed their name, notably any women who took their husband's name when they married, would have a birth certificate that does not show the same name as their driver's license, and would not be accepted as proof of citizenship. These changes would also make it nearly impossible to organize a successful voter registration drive.
The bill will next be presented to the Senate, where it needs 60 votes (out of 100) to pass.
Rumeysa Ozturk being detained by plainclothes ICE gestapo
The State Department knew that there was no evidence that Rumeysa Ozturk had engaged in antisemitic activities or supported any terrorist organization, but they sent ICE in to kidnap and and disappear her nonetheless.
The findings were released in a memo days before Ozturk was snatched off the street by un-uniformed gestapo agents carrying ICE badges, all of which was caught on video by a surveillance camera.
The only reason Ozturk was targeted was because she co-wrote an op-ed in the student newspaper criticizing the University's response to the Israel-Gaza war. Such an act is very clearly protected by the foundational principle of freedom of speech, outlined in the United States Constitution and supported by centuries of legal precedent.
No evidence has ever been presented that would indicate Ozturk engaged in any illegal activities, no matter how far you stretch the term "illegal," and the memo proves that this fact was known before she was detained.
What did I/we do last week?
The Conservative's Dilemma, April 12, 2025
I hate the Republican party. With a passion. I think the party is nothing more than a collection of Trump's most devoted sycophants, bent on destroying the United States, and there is no one of any integrity in the party. I will never vote for a Republican for any position in government. Ever. I hope I've made that clear enough.
But that wasn't always the case. In fact, for most of my voting life, I was registered as a Republican, and proud of it.
Why did I change my mind? Well, I didn't. I changed my registration to Unaffiliated in 2008, but I didn't leave the Republican Party. The party left me in it's wild push to become the radical right-wing extremist party that today supports authoritarian and fascist ideals that are incompatible with the Constitution, the rule of law, and the rights of the people.
While the terms "conservative," "right-wing," and "Republican" are often used interchangeably by the public and, especially, by the media, they are not at all the same. In this article, I lay out my opinions about how they differ from one another.
What can you do this week?
You've likely already heard rumors that Trump may invoke the Insurrection Act on April 20th. That's not entirely accurate...he can invoke the act any time he wants to. The April 20 date is significant only because that's the day he is expecting a report from DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. You see, on his first day in office (January 21, 2025), Trump declared a national emergency at the southern border and gave Noem and Hegseth 90 days to recommend what actions should be taken. The report is nothing but advice...Trump will do whatever he wants to.
Considering the known opinions of Trump, Hegseth, and Noem, it seems highly likely that the report will recommend invoking the Insurrection Act. This Act gives the federal government the authority to deploy the military locally to "help" local governments restore order during an extraordinary crisis.
The Act itself is not the problem...the real problem is that Trump is following a well-known playbook for overthrowing democracy. It is a time-tested and reliable playbook, and it's not pretty. There is no specific timeline for the playbook, just a series of steps...
- Growing protests, which the government claims to hate, but secretly want to grow
- False-flag operations will cause violence to break out in these peaceful protests
- The government declares martial law to "restore order"
- Protesters will be labeled seditionists and sycophants will be labeled as patriots
- The government will begin arresting opposition leaders at all levels
- The military will assume complete control over major cities nationwide
- Press and media will be controlled by the government, cutting off opposition information
- Borders will be closed and elections postponed, indefinitely
And once elections are eliminated (or rigged), democracy is gone.
Hands Off protest in Minnesota, April 5, 2025
Image by Own work from Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
On April 19th, 50501 is once again calling for a national day of action to let the Trump regime know that we will not tolerate their unlawful takeover of the United States.
On April 5th, somewhere between 3 and 5 million Americans took place in protests around the country (and even around the world) to tell Trump and his minions to keep their "Hands Off" our country.
Taking part in peaceful protests is the most American of all activities, and is a fundamental right granted to our people. It is essential that we keep up the momentum and keep driving home the message to let the government know that we will not tolerate their behavior. It may be a long time before the next election, but we don't want them to get comfortable while they wait it out. Raise you voice. Join the resistance.
As always, violence of any kind will not be tolerated.
Keeping you informed...
U.S. House of Representatives, empty
Most Americans, regardless of political affiliation, find themselves constantly asking, "How did we get here?" Republicans appear less concerned than Democrats because their party is in charge and is making the rule. But those who are not in power are left reeling because what's happening in our country would have been absolutely unthinkable even a decade ago. So why is it happening now?
Our winner-take-all election system leaves voters in gerrymandered districts that favor a single political party without any meaningful representation in our elections. The result is that as many as 65% of all elections in the country are uncontested, meaning that the party nominee is guaranteed a win on election day. When you add in elections that strongly favor one party over the other, as many as 90% of all U.S. House races were non-competitive, with the favored party's candidate all but assured a victory.
In such a system, the only elections that matter are the primaries, where only the most extreme members of either party tend to show up in significant numbers.
Representatives in uncontested elections, or even in elections where they have opposition, but a strong party advantage, have little interest in meeting with or engaging with their constituents. After all, they don't need to convince anyone to vote for them, so there's really no reason for them to care.
Most Americans want change. One proposal is to make districts larger, and elect multiple representatives from each according based on the share of votes the candidates receive. So you might combine 7-8 districts into 2, with each one having 3-4 representatives, and in each district, the top 3-4 candidates (regardless of party) would be elected.
There are many other proposed solutions, but little incentive for existing members of government to make changes to a system that fits their own self-interest so nicely.
On the lighter side...
Am I the only one reading White House tweets in Bane’s voice in my head?
— Corey Ryan Forrester (@coreyrforrester.bsky.social) April 9, 2025 at 8:21 PM
[image or embed]
— ♥️♠️Pam♦️♣️ (@pamrichmond1.bsky.social) April 11, 2025 at 12:11 AM