People Are Fighting Back Against Trump’s Fascist Agenda in the Courts, and They’re Already Winning
Added 2025-01-31 10:33:36 +0000 UTCOA1119 - Trump's executive orders are bad for humanity--and just plain badly written. We survey some of the 20 major legal challenges which have been filed against this nonsense--including two early wins, and a few others which might be wins soon.
Matt then explains a recent proposed Trump enforcement tactic with concerning new potential for integration of local and federal authorities with immigration enforcement which the media seems to have missed. In related news, Trump has announced that a little-known section of the US military base at Guantanamo Bay will be used to house up to 30,000 immigrants facing deportation. We consider the history and legal issues around this far-from unprecedented plan.
Finally, our closing Bigfootnote takes a closer look at a rare intersection between cryptozoology and the law.
“Offshoring Human Rights,” International Refugee Assistance Project (Fall 2024)
Trump Litigation Tracker, Just Security (2025)
Bigfoot-Ordinance-69-01.pdf (Skamani County)
Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!
Comments
Regarding the definition of sex: I think it says that what is happening at conception is “belonging”, not producing the reproductive cell; in other words, at conception, the fertilized egg is XX or XY. The XX ultimately produces the large reproductive cell, and the XY produces the small one. The XX belongs at conception to the sex that produces eggs. Etc. That definition in my view does not say that, at the time of conception, the fertilized egg is producing any reproductive cells.
Lawrence Frank
2025-02-05 15:52:43 +0000 UTCTHE FUCKING SPACE FORCE. ILLEGALLY DETAINING RESIDENTS OF THE USA. We really are in the worst possible future.
Thwirty
2025-02-04 04:51:46 +0000 UTCWell yes, but only because the Republican position about wanting small government was a fiction. Fascists need the apparatus of the state to operate, after all.
Thwirty
2025-02-04 04:50:31 +0000 UTCOOH, OOH, I have a story about Matt's footnote! So when I was a baby Davis growing up in a fascist Republican household, I was made to join the local Search & Rescue group in Oregon. It was literally an emergency response team made up of youth volunteers and run by the local sheriff's office, and they'd get called out whenever there was a plane crash in the mountains, or a lost hiker or something. Anyway, so because I was in this group that operated out of the sheriff's office, I would occasionally find myself hanging out in the 911 center for the county. I heard MULTIPLE people call in and ask if it was legal to shoot Bigfoot.
Thwirty
2025-02-04 04:45:57 +0000 UTCYeah, it’s the Patreon feed in pocket casts. Seems like it’s a pocket cast issue (thanks Vehicular Man’s Laughter!) so I’m not going to post about it here anymore since there isn’t anything to be done. It only happens every once in a while and I can always catch the episode here or even listen to the auto ads version. Truly, the mildest of inconveniences.
Brandon in Chicago
2025-02-04 03:01:39 +0000 UTC*sex not gender
jdub047
2025-02-03 17:58:11 +0000 UTCI noticed this too
Sanja Petrovic
2025-02-03 17:40:51 +0000 UTCFairly certain that this is a Pocket Casts-specific bug/feature. As I understand it, Pocket Casts tries to be a "good podcast ecosystem neighbor" by calibrating the frequency of update pings with (a) the typical drop cycle of a particular pod; and (b) the audience/download size of a particular pod ... in other words, a pod that typically releases once a week and has a small audience might get pinged once or twice a day vs, e.g. The Daily, which would get pinged multiple times throughout the day. Recently, someone on Reddit mentioned this delay issue with Pocket Casts but it was for PBS-produced podcasts. Again, I don't think there's anything Thomas can do except *maybe* start using Podping? Pocket Casts support has often suggested this (Podping) as a workaround/fix for creators on the Pocket Casts forum/support boards in the last year or so.
Vehicular Man's Laughter doesn't always play his podcasts with others in the car, but when he does, he prefers the Lydia edit
2025-02-03 16:08:24 +0000 UTCOk, tried the basic reboot and problem solved - feeling silly. Love to all.
Rae
2025-02-03 15:53:03 +0000 UTCTo my week, too ❤️
Rae
2025-02-03 15:49:13 +0000 UTCUp until and through this episode, I was able to listen to all my Smith subscriptions on Patreon, but this week, while all casts are listed here, there is no “Play” for any of these casts here! Wtf? The shows are still showing up on my Apple pods, but with commercials. Don’t know how/where to go to get my ad-free back. Help?
Rae
2025-02-03 15:47:43 +0000 UTCIf you're talking about the Patreon version... I don't think there's anything I could do about that. That's really weird though. Because,for the Patreon feed, it generates the custom RSS feed and you just plug that into your podcast player. For me, this feed populates in Apple Podcasts like instantly. So that means the feed is working on Patreon's end, and I don't know what would be causing Pocket Casts to be slower, unless it's just not checking? Like, I assume you tried manually refreshing the feed? Weird, sorry
Opening Arguments
2025-02-03 08:20:32 +0000 UTClol yes I wasn't sure if anyone would get that
Opening Arguments
2025-02-03 08:17:30 +0000 UTCMatt you may want to check/change your Bluesky password. There have been some out-of-character reskeets from your account over the past few days.
Dusty Lee
2025-02-02 18:15:15 +0000 UTChttps://64.media.tumblr.com/19530e63e2d2bf39e3812cb84e61eab8/f84b575b4a7f9fe6-78/s2048x3072/c17c522a9ae1e5cd431f7a41cd0277aac4cf42d7.webp
Merk
2025-02-02 02:56:06 +0000 UTC"who are the law wizards coming up with this one" was this a reference to an SNL Jeopardy style sketch with Jerry Seinfeld? If so, I'm here for it
Bear The Bull
2025-02-02 01:14:53 +0000 UTCOur news isn't reporting it, but Cuba said NOPE. https://misiones.cubaminrex.cu/en/articulo/cuba-rejects-trumps-order-open-center-guantanamo-naval-base-detain-illegal-migrants-us >The territory where it is proposed to imprison them does not belong to the United States. It is a portion of Cuban territory in the eastern province of Guantanamo, which remains under illegal military occupation and against the will of the Cuban nation.
Carrie Leigh
2025-02-01 09:44:35 +0000 UTCThank you for saying that, but i promise that i am pacing myself out. I learned a lot about my mental health and how to step away when i need to the last time around (the hard way, but it stuck) and have been preparing myself for this. Honestly spending a couple of hours a week with thomas and all of you who are part of this listening community i am so fortunate to have walked into is always one of my favorite parts of the week, and certainly the least stressful. It feels good to know that none of us are alone in this. I have truly incredible support in every part of my life, and thomas and lydia really are such a pleasure to work with that it's easy to forget that this is an actual second job!
Matt Cameron
2025-02-01 05:35:05 +0000 UTCThe episode is now available in Pocket Casts as of 10:30pm CST. It may have been available earlier but this was the first time I checked since 7pm
Brandon in Chicago
2025-02-01 04:32:39 +0000 UTCOk I'm not the only one then
Tacos are a sandwich, change my mind
2025-02-01 02:09:31 +0000 UTCThat’s so rich an insurrectionist using the insurrection act. There’s a joker a poem in there somewhere.
Oso Hermoso
2025-02-01 01:41:10 +0000 UTCStill not there at 7pm CST. Listened to it on Patreon though. Weird how it delays on Pocket Casts occasionally
Brandon in Chicago
2025-02-01 01:16:19 +0000 UTCI literally just left a comment on the latest WTW episode (which pocketcasts grabbed *instantly*) that this has been an issue recently but I have no explanation as to why...
Vehicular Man's Laughter doesn't always play his podcasts with others in the car, but when he does, he prefers the Lydia edit
2025-02-01 00:17:48 +0000 UTCtwo things - the "Green New Deal" was a set of proposals; unfortunately it never became law. Also, am I crazy or this whole use of Federal agencies such as the OMB to make radical changes overnight -- doesn't that contradict the entire Conservative position that calls for a drastic reduction in the power of Federal agencies?
David in Brooklyn
2025-02-01 00:12:04 +0000 UTCThank you for focusing on the OMB issue. I was able to play it for my wife, who manages several Americorps-funded programs and has been dealing with this nonstop for days, so it was good to hear the legal perspective.
John Tanzer
2025-01-31 22:01:34 +0000 UTCI'm not sure if ICE has ever used military bases in the U.S. for noncitizen detention and I'm not sure if that's legal.
Shad Riley
2025-01-31 22:01:00 +0000 UTCI know it is insignificant compared to Guantanamo Bay, but Buckley Space Force Base in Aurora, CO will reportedly be holding noncitizens as well. https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/ice-to-use-aurora-s-buckley-space-force-base-to-process-house-detained-immigrants/ar-AA1y49la
Shad Riley
2025-01-31 21:59:13 +0000 UTCthe cool thing about australia's off-shore (ill)-treatment of asylees is that we have not one, not two, but THREE off shore detention facilities that have constantly been in the news. called the super-fashy 'pacific solution'. nauru and christmas island are still functioning. manus island closed a few years ago. lynton crosby, the architect of these (and many) punitive immigration schemes was also part of britains failed attempts at such things (and listening today, I wondered if he was behind the scenes in the US). there is some harrowing reporting and information about the impact of these places, including from lawyers who worked on the cases.
learn to aim your dicks!
2025-01-31 19:06:15 +0000 UTCAs an Aussie, I'd like to share an interview with a pastor called Jarrod McKenna who snuck INTO one of the detention centres Australia ran (on Manus island, not Nauru) to speak to the men there and smuggle out their stories on video. The thing that boggles my mind is that New Zealand asked to take the people that Australia had brutally imprisoned for years, and our government wouldn't let them! The absolute depravity of the policy is surely inspiration for Trump the way the Nazis were inspired by some terrible ideas in the USA. The cruelty was the point. If it's of interest, the podcast is called Wilosophy with Jarrod McKenna 2: Manus. I found it moving and inspiring to hear the stories of how the detained people took such care of one another, as well as the priest and pastor who snuck onto the camp. As our media is pretty monopolised by Murdoch and other nasties the mainstream really never shared things like this. I've been watching the Guantanamo Bay news with a sick feeling in my stomach knowing we will perhaps see an American iteration of what Australia did. That is terrifying because our government was extremely cruel but I expect MAGA to be even worse. One of the men on Manus was Behrouz Boochani who was imprisoned there for 4 years and wrote a book about it whilst imprisoned (called No Friend but the Mountains). I think he has been quite outspoken and artistically productive about his experience trapped there and successfully finding asylum in New Zealand in the end. I do still need to read his book....
Jess C
2025-01-31 15:57:53 +0000 UTCEverybody knows Bigfoot moved to Oregon! Matt- amazing, comprehensive coverage. How do you do it? Thomas, you crack me up as always. Brilliant. These are all individually disturbing changes; I’m encouraged by the resistance.
Status Quo Level Thing
2025-01-31 15:02:03 +0000 UTCEpisode still hasn’t dropped in Pocket Casts as of 8:55am CST. Happens occasionally. If it doesn’t drop in the next couple hours, I’ll just listen to it here.
Brandon in Chicago
2025-01-31 14:55:55 +0000 UTCI love the intro quotes so much. I listen to these first thing in the morning and it's so nice to start the day with "You must never, ever give up or give in." Thanks for doing what you do! ♥️
FROTUS
2025-01-31 14:23:59 +0000 UTCTo Matt – please don't burn yourself out! I'm sure we're ok with a lighter podcast schedule while you're doing your work for clients in this chaos. ❤️❤️
Matt Barber
2025-01-31 12:29:09 +0000 UTC
