The frequency at which I publish these blogarounds has gotten ridiculous. Things just keep happening.
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Links not related to that felon:
1. Most Men Don't Want to Be Heroes (and That's Okay) (March 17) "I’ve also provided support to people in less dramatic, more long-term, more female-coded ways. For instance, assisting a loved one through a disability. Or being, with my family, a carer for a close relative with Alzheimer's. There is absolutely no doubt the latter have given more meaning to me, developed my character more, and have strengthened my relationships with others in a way more traditional ‘heroics’ couldn’t."
2. Beast Games: An Autopsy (March 16) 1-hour-31-minute video from Big Joel, analyzing all the games on "Beast Games." Wow, it's incredible how badly designed these games are. It's like they tried to make some interesting game-theory mechanics, make the contestants strategize and deceive each other, but it totally fails because the game rules are just so badly designed. Were these games even tested at all???
3. We Read the Book That Mark Zuckerberg Doesn’t Want You to Read. We Can See Why. (March 19)
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Links related to that felon:
1. Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump’s Advisers Shared on Signal (March 26)
And also: Duckworth: Pete Hegseth Needs to Resign in Disgrace (March 26) "Pete Hegseth is a f*cking liar."
2. Staring at the Wall (March 24) "And you’re right: They couldn’t do it legally. But what if your name wound up on a list either by mistake or because you have an enemy somewhere inside the Trump administration or because some ICE officer was too enthusiastic about rounding people up? What if you were put on that plane without a hearing, the way the supposed gang members were? When would you have had a chance to offer evidence that you are an American citizen?"
3. Trump revokes legal status of 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans (March 21, via) "Friday’s action is 'going to cause needless chaos and heartbreak for families and communities across the country', said Karen Tumlin, founder and director of Justice Action Center, one of the organizations that filed the lawsuit at the end of February. She called it 'reckless, cruel and counterproductive'." This is ridiculous. These people are in the US legally, they followed all the rules, and now suddenly that felon is changing the rules and they have to leave the US within 1 month or get deported.
I'm so mad. But! Don't just be mad! Do something! Look for the helpers, and join them. Protest. Donate to groups that help immigrants.
4. Commerce Sec Says Only “Fraudsters” Would Miss Delayed Social Security Check (March 24) What on earth.
5. Tufts international graduate student taken into ICE custody (March 26) "Everyone should be alarmed by what’s shown in the video of Ms. Ozturk being handcuffed and taken away by agents. The government must immediately release her to her friends and community in Massachusetts."
6. 'Felt like a kidnapping': Wrong turn leads to 5-day detention ordeal (March 26) This is terrifying. Her kids are about the same ages as my kids. Being detained somewhere, without diapers or baby food, this is horrible.
All of these news stories are sort of making me realize this: The MAGAs in the government are coming at this from a perspective of "if they're here illegally, they don't have any rights." (Note, though, that legal immigrants and US citizens are getting caught up in this too.) And, naively, this sounds like it makes sense- if someone is in the US illegally, then the way to solve the problem is to deport them- how absurd to think that they have rights we have to respect, when their entire physical presence is illegal. But I'm hoping Americans will see that the situation is much more complicated than that- and that no one should be treated the way ICE is treating people. (And also, another way to solve the problem would be to give them the right documents to be legal immigrants. Wouldn't that be much easier?)
7. Federal judge issues temporary restraining order stopping federal agents from detaining Columbia University student (March 25) "'She’s a college junior doing what generations of students before her have done, which is speak up and protest, and for that, the Trump administration is seeking to detain her and deport her,' said attorney Ramzi Kassem outside court Tuesday, adding that his client has done nothing criminal."
8. What the Venezuelans Deported to El Salvador Experienced (March 21, via)
And: Human rights groups rebuke Kristi Noem’s visit to El Salvador prison: ‘political theater’ (March 27)