Notices by Hippy Steve (exador23@m.ai6yr.org), page 3

3 members of punk band The U.K. Subs were detained by immigration officials at LAX where they had arrived for their farewell tour.

Their luggage, phone, and passport were confiscated; and they were held for 25hrs before being sent back to Britain. Apparently this is another example (like the French scientist) of being harassed and denied entry because they had dared to question the politics of Dear Leader on social media.

https://dorseteye.com/im-so-proud-to-be-deported-from-the-usa/

Ultimately, while I never expected to be thrown out of America at the age of 67, I find myself somewhat proud of the fact. It seems my relationship with the country is over for the foreseeable future. And perhaps that’s why a certain chorus from track three, side one, of the first Clash album keeps playing in my head.

@ai6yr

Not a legal expert. But if I'm reading this memo right, the Attorney General just directed all affected agencies to ignore a clear and direct court order.

#ConstitutionalCrisis

Jesus Christ!

'Don't do the shots,' say parents of West Texas child who died of measles
'She is better off where she is now versus all the negativity and all the stuff going on' https://www.expressnews.com/news/texas/article/parents-west-texas-child-measles-death-20231685.php

The parents of a West Texas child who died from complications of measles spoke out against vaccination, saying they believe measles can improve immunity and prevent cancer. [FFS]

The couple explained that their four other children contracted measles, too, and they recovered with the help of Ben Edwards, a Lubbock physician who has been distributing cod liver oil and inhaled steroids as treatment for the virus with financial support from Children's Health Defense, Mother Jones reported.
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Criminy. See. Measles isn't so bad. only 1 of my 5 children died from it.

dammit. another one.

Politico: Masked agents arrested Badar Khan Suri, an Indian national and postdoctoral fellow, outside his home in the Rosslyn neighborhood of Arlington, Virginia, on Monday night, his lawyer said in a lawsuit fighting for his immediate release. The agents identified themselves as being with the Department of Homeland Security and told him the government had revoked his visa, the lawsuit says.

According to Suri’s petition for release, he was put in deportation proceedings under the same rarely used provision of immigration law that the government has invoked to try to deport Mahmoud Khalil

Suri has no criminal record and has not been charged with a crime, his petition says. His detention and petition have not been previously reported.

Suri’s lawyer, Hassan Ahmad, argued in his petition that Suri is being punished because of the Palestinian heritage of his wife — who is a U.S. citizen — and because the government suspects that he and his wife oppose U.S. foreign policy toward Israel.

Judd Legume (journalist, founder & former editor of Think Progress) appears to have a memo from Acting Deputy SSA Commissioner Doris Diaz outlining "proposed changes to the claims process that would debilitate the agency, cause significant processing delays, and prevent many Americans from applying for or receiving [#SocialSecurity] benefits." https://popular.info/p/exclusive-memo-details-trump-plan

The biggest change contemplated by Diaz's memo is to require "internet identity proofing" for "benefit claims… made over the phone." When an SSA customer is "unable to utilize the internet ID proofing, customers will be required to visit a field office to provide in-person identity documentation."

Because the SSA serves a large population that is either older or physically disabled, many cannot access the internet. Under the new system, this would force these populations to visit an office to have their claim processed. The Diaz memo estimates it would require 75,000 to 85,000 in-person visitors per week to SSA's offices to implement the policy.
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And of course, they'll be cutting the workforce and closing SSA offices which will make it nearly impossible to file for your claim.

Need to emphasize this, since the AP article doesn't even include it...

75,000 to 85,000 additional SSA visits PER WEEK, would cripple the agency if it were at full capacity.

But doing that while simultaneously reducing staffing massively and shuttering offices is pure SABOTAGE.

That was fast. The #SocialSecurity sabotage plans outlined in the memo obtained by Judd Legum go into effect at the end of the month. https://www.wect.com/2025/03/18/social-security-administration-require-in-person-identity-checks-new-existing-recipients/

Beginning March 31st, people will no longer be able to verify their identity to the SSA over the phone and those who cannot properly verify their identity over the agency’s “My Social Security” online service, will be required to visit an agency field office in person to complete the verification process, agency leadership told reporters Tuesday.

The change will apply to new Social Security applicants and existing recipients who want to change their direct deposit information.

Connecticut Rep. John Larson, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee, said in a statement that “by requiring seniors and disabled Americans to enroll online or in person at the same field offices they are trying to close, rather than over the phone, Trump and Musk are trying to create chaos and inefficiencies at SSA so they can privatize the system.”

The DOGE website says that leases for 47 Social Security field offices across the country, including in Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Kentucky and North Carolina, have been or will be ended.
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The Diaz memo estimates it would require 75,000 to 85,000 in-person visitors per week to SSA's offices to implement the policy - while many of those offices that are slated to be closed

uh. ok. why not.

NASA’s JWST provides evidence that our universe exists inside of a black hole https://www.thebrighterside.news/post/nasas-jwst-provides-evidence-that-our-universe-exists-inside-of-a-black-hole/
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Like many science articles the headline is a little click-baity. What it's really about is JWST found galaxies with unexpected rotation patterns and early formations and these findings challenge current cosmological models.

LOL. Remember the List 5 Things directive from Musk last month.

This is how one employee responded via Seattle Times https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/wa-workers-defy-musks-what-did-you-do-last-week-in-their-own-mass-emails/

One sent a reply en masse to the Human Resources Department that sent the original email and cc’d their entire forestry region. The other employee sent it to their leadership team and also cc’d their entire region, asserting they would not be replying to OPM’s email at all.

One of the two employees, a Washington archaeologist, wrote, “As a United States Marine Corps combat veteran stationed overseas their entire enlistment, this is the exact situation we are trained to look for and not participate in” and added the OPM instruction was “unlawful.”

“They wouldn’t be downplaying it if they weren’t getting something from it. Do not underestimate what can be done with what you think is mundane information,” the archaeologist wrote to hundreds of people. “This is not about telling my supervisor what I’ve done in a week. This is about an outside entity being given authority and accreditation through unquestioned compliance.”

ABC: White House border czar Tom Homan defended the administration's decision not to comply with a federal judge's order to turn around deportation flights in the air during an appearance on Fox News on Monday morning.

"It wasn't until this flight was already [in] international waters heading down to El Salvador that the judge made some comment about returning the flights. We are already in international waters. We are outside the borders of the United States. I'm the border czar. Once you are outside the border, you know, it is what it is," Homan said.

Homan said that there would be "another flight every day" when asked about what's next for immigration efforts.

"We are going to make this country safe again. I wake up every morning loving my job because I work for the greatest president in the history of my life. And we are going to make this country safe again. I'm proud to be a part of this administration. We are not stopping. I don't care what the judges think. I don't care what the Left thinks. We're coming," Homan said.
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The hubris of referring to a legit and serious court order as "the judge made some comment"

#ConstitutionalCrisis #AlienEnemiesAct

Weird how Walz holds a few town halls in school auditoriums in the midwest and gets tons of press and attention, while Sanders has been turning away people clamoring to get into at-capacity stadiums for weeks now on his "Fighting Oligarchy" tour through numerous swing states. like in Kenosha, Wisconsin where 3.5k residents out of the town's 100k population turned out on a Friday night and an additional 500 had to be turned away, but hardly anyone seems to be paying attention.

@ai6yr Times probably call for these old rules too.

1. Don't rat on your friends/compatriots.

2. Don't rat on yourself.

3. If they're still asking, they don't know.

I'd also add good advice from one of the top public defenders in Los Angeles: Do not give any false statement to police that they could corroborate. He gave the specific example of having an immigrant in your home and ICE agents come knocking.

If you say, "I don't know them" or "haven't seen them in weeks" but your phone or other evidence could prove false, that's a misdemeanor that could be made even more serious. Just say, "I can't help you" over and over again if necessary.

nice. lol.

NYTimes live blog: The U.S. Institute of Peace* was visited on Friday afternoon by members of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. They were accompanied by two F.B.I. agents, according to a statement from Gonzo Gallegos, a spokesman for the institute.
Gallegos said that DOGE was “met at the door” by a lawyer who told them that the peace institute has “private and independent status as a nonexecutive branch agency,” after which the DOGE representatives left.

*The U.S. Institute of Peace is an independent organization created by Congress in 1985 that works to end conflict with diplomacy.

Trump was expected to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 today. To the best of my knowledge that hasn't happened yet.

This is the wartime authority that allows the government to detain and deport people without court hearings or asylum interviews, which was used to intern American citizens of Japanese descent during WWII.

Wondering if cooler heads prevailed or if is still coming even though we are not at war.

Way to go ACLU and Democracy Forward. They filed a lawsuit to stop the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 from being invoked. And the judge has issued a temporary restraining order.

https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/federal-court-temporarily-blocks-trump-from-removing-some-immigrants-in-u-s-using-alien-enemies-act

WASHINGTON — A federal judge has granted a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from removing some immigrants from the United States using the Alien Enemies Act. The ruling stems from a lawsuit, J.G.G. v. Trump, filed earlier today by the American Civil Liberties Union, Democracy Forward, and the ACLU of the District of Columbia challenging the president’s expected unlawful and unprecedented invocation of the act.

The court ordered the individual plaintiffs in this lawsuit not be removed from the United States for 14 days. A remote hearing has been scheduled for today, Saturday, March 15, at 5 p.m. before Chief Judge James E. Boasberg. The ACLU and Democracy Forward will ask that the temporary restraining order be broadened to everyone in danger of removal under the act.

The brownshirts have been unleashed. I suspect it's much worse for people of color, but those stories don't get the press.

https://www.wgbh.org/news/local/2025-03-14/green-card-holder-from-new-hampshire-interrogated-at-logan-airport-detained

Senior described Schmidt being “violently interrogated” at Logan Airport for hours, and being stripped naked, put in a cold shower by two officials, and being put back onto a chair.

She said Schmidt told her immigration agents pressured him to give up his green card. She said he was placed on a mat in a bright room with other people at the airport, with little food or water, suffered sleep deprivation, and was denied access to his medication for anxiety and depression.

“He hardly got anything to drink. And then he wasn’t feeling very well and he collapsed,” said Senior.

He was transported by ambulance to Mass General Hospital. He didn’t know it at the time, but he also had influenza.

Fabian Schmidt’s family said they are unsure of why he is being held. They said he has a recently renewed green card, and no active issues in court.

From Nick Lilja, former Chief Meteorologist at WDAM:

Just a brief reminder that due to recent layoffs (and the hiring freeze) at NOAA, there are fewer weather balloons sampling this system as it moves into the US and develops, there are fewer forecasters at the NWS obtaining data and offering analysis, and the three NWS offices serving this area will be working with fewer-than-normal meteorologists on staff for this event.

So please be kind to them if this weekend ends up being very active. The model data may not be as accurate leading up to the event, the regional forecasts may lack additional data and context, and the local offices may struggle more than normal to keep up with multiple simultaneous storms given the lack of available people in the chairs.

I know these folks are all dedicated as public servants to do the best job they can do. But the reality is they will be working longer hours with fewer people, and fewer resources during an event that may feature above-nornal activity.

ABC: At least 18 people are dead after severe weather hit parts of Missouri, Texas and Arkansas overnight, officials said.

Additionally, 238,792 customers are without power across five states -- Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Texas and Arkansas, according to Poweroutage.us.

Millions of Americans across the country are on alert for severe weather with tornado watches in effect for eight states: Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio.

A new particularly dangerous situation tornado watch was issued Saturday across much of Mississippi, as well as portions of eastern Louisiana until 6 p.m. CT this evening. This includes cities such as Jackson, Tupelo, Meridian, Mississippi; and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

"A tornado outbreak appears imminent with the potential for multiple, intense to violent long-track tornadoes from mid-day through this evening," according to the National Weather Service.

YIKES!

On Wednesday, a woman gave birth in a Lubbock, Texas, hospital in the middle of a deadly and fast-growing measles outbreak. Doctors didn’t realize until the young mother had been admitted and in labor that she was infected with the measles.

By that time, other new moms, newborn babies and their families at University Medical Center Children’s Hospital in Lubbock had unknowingly been exposed to the virus, considered one of the most contagious in the world.

Hospital staff are scrambling with damage control efforts — implementing emergency masking policies and giving babies as young as three days old injections of immunoglobulin, an antibody that helps their fragile immune system fight off infections. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/texas-measles-outbreak-hospital-newborn-babies-exposed-rcna196519

#Measles