Send deportees to Guantanamo for a more macho message

Mary Louise Kelly and Sacha Pfeiffer of NPR talked about the nasty guy’s announcement of using Guantanamo to hold deportees as they’re processed and before they are sent to their country of origin. The big issue is cost to get perhaps up to 30,000 deportees there, to feed, house, and supervise them. Congress would have to allocate the money and they might not approve it. There are also legal issues. They brought Ben Wittes of the legal website Lawfare to talk about the legal issue and also why the nasty guy thinks this is a great idea. Said Wittes:

The name Guantanamo Bay to America signals terrorist detention. So it elevates the status of what are really routine immigration enforcement actions into something like holding major terrorist figures that signals, I'm going to bring back the big bad Guantanamo Bay for this.

Pfeiffer adds that putting the detention center somewhere on the US mainland “wouldn't send as much of a macho message.” Khalil AlHajal is an opinion page writer for the Detroit Free Press. I’m pleased that with the Detroit region having such a large Arab population the Freep has an Arab opinion writer, though the piece I’m discussing isn’t about Arab issues. It’s about a Detroit program that has helped lower homicide rates. Detroit has a ShotSpotter system in which microphones are placed around the city that listen for gunshots. When the system registers a shot police are notified with the hope they will respond quickly. Detroit also has various neighborhood watch programs to help reduce crime. These are run by the citizens and have been quite successful. They helped get funding so the ShotSpotter system could expand. Along with that help they went to police and said there is a fundamental flaw to the system. By the time it registers something, the shot has already been fired. That’s too late. What we need is a ShotStopper system. That’s us. So help us get funded so we can do the work full time, rather than as volunteers who also have full time jobs. Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison described the program and the people who work it.

“They actually understand and know the lifestyles of these young men and women,” Bettison said. “These community violence intervention groups know exactly where to find them, exactly how to communicate with them and how to inspire them to leave that life. When they realize that they do matter, and they start seeing themselves in the future, at that point, with hope, they stop acting reckless ... “If you’re hopeless and you don’t see yourself in the future, you’re very, very dangerous, because you don’t care about yourself or anybody else. You’ve just completely given up. And the young folks have a word for it — crash out. … You just don’t care about nothing. At that point, you’re a suicide dummy, and you don’t care who you destroy as you’re going out.”

In the program areas homicides dropped 45% between Nov. 1, 2023 and Oct. 31, 2024. AlHajal gets to the reason for his opinion piece. State funding to keep the program running didn’t actually get into a state law by the end of the year. This program is worth funding. Without it lives are at risk. Wednesday night a commercial airplane about to land at Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC collided with a military helicopter. Both craft ended up in the Potomac River. Between the two craft 67 lives were lost. Of course, NPR has been looking at this story from every angle they can think of. There have also been many related political stories. And one of those is by NPR host Kelly talking to reporter Lisa Hagen. The kernel of the story is in Kelly’s introduction:

So the investigation into what caused this fatal air collision is just beginning, but almost immediately, President Trump and other administration officials said diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the Federal Aviation Administration were to blame. Trump also acknowledged he had no direct evidence that DEI had anything to do with the crash.

Hagen talked to Ian Haney Lopez, a law professor at the University of California who wrote the book “Dog Whistle Politics.” Hagan summarized what he said:

Blaming DEI is shorthand for a story that America used to be based only on competence and meritocracy, which - that's an inversion of our actual history of pervasive discrimination against people other than straight, white men.

During the press conference the nasty guy read from the actual FAA DEI policy, decrying what it said. But it is the same policy that was in effect during his first term. The argument for DEI is that it makes hiring more about merit than anything else. The argument against DEI is that it makes hiring less about merit. With those competing claims I know who I believe. Oliver Willis of Daily Kos wrote that the nasty guy gutted an aviation safety committee just a few days before the crash. He couldn’t eliminate the committee because that would require an act of Congress. But he could fire all its members. The article doesn’t say in what way, if any, gutting the safety committee had on the collision. Walter Einenkel of Kos reported the nasty guy blamed more than DEI for the collision. He also blamed outgoing Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Barack Obama, Democrats, air traffic control, and all the kinds of people the DEI policy helped. Emily Singer of Kos reported on Buttigieg’s response, posted on X.

Despicable. As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch.

Buttigieg also said the nasty guy bears part of the blame. He had succumbed to Musk’s demands to fire the head of the FAA because he fined Musk’s company SpaceX. So at the time of the crash there was no head to the FAA. Singer included a tweet by Vince Monroy about a moment in the press conference:

Reporter: You blamed the diversity elements but then told us you weren’t sure that the controllers made any mistakes. Trump: It’s all under investigation. Reporter: That’s why I’m trying to figure out how you can come to the conclusion right now that diversity had something to do with this crash.

Singer also noted the new Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth seem quite unprepared to handle the situation. And that’s because they’re quite unqualified for their new jobs. Singer also reported that staffing at the control tower at Reagan National was low. Note above that Buttigieg said he “grew Air Traffic Control” which is still below what it should be, though getting staffing up to where it should be takes time. Singer discussed what we face if the DOGE group is able to shrink the government workforce as they say they want to. Too few air traffic controllers would lead to flight delays, fewer flights, higher prices, and less safe skies. Too few Food and Drug Administration inspectors would lead to unsafe food and contaminated drugs. Too few Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors would lead to more workplace injuries and deaths. Getting passports, Social Security cards, and payment for Medicaid and Medicare claims would take longer. We’ve had one big pandemic, gutting the National Institute of Health could mean a second one. And a whole lot more government services would be interrupted. Liam Clymer of Pridesource offers guidelines on how to keep yourself safe when protesting. His tips are from LGBTQ advocates. The tips are offered because LGBTQ people can be especially targeted by counterprotesters. I’ll mention the tips and let you read the article for details. Research the event and understand its goals. Know the situation and what voices will be raised against yours. Practice self-care. Know your limits. Don’t wear anything that would let others think your intentions are violent. You may also want to protect your identity to prevent doxxing, which might mean wearing a COVID style mask. Take water, snacks, fully charged phone, and ID. If you use Face ID to unlock your phone turn it off. With Face ID police may feel emboldened to pressure you into unlocking your phone. Use a digit-based code. Observe your environment for danger from those who want to escalate the protest and from police. Move to minimize risk. Have a buddy, both outside of the protest and within. When someone tries to escalate remain calm with your voice steady. Avoid provocative behavior that others might interpret as leading to escalation or violence. If necessary, remove yourself. Learn from the elders and veterans at meetings beforehand and at the event. Know your rights. You have a right to demonstrate in public places and to photograph anything, including police, that’s in plain view. Identify where the protest marshals are. Also, medics and who has water supplies. Make sure the marginalized (such as trans people) are included and their voices heard. Write the number of a lawyer on your arm. See Michigan Legal Help and ACLU. If detained try to write down police names, badge and patrol car numbers, and the agency they work for. Also record and take pictures of injuries. Use social media to amplify the message of the protest. In a Cheers and Jeers column from a week ago Bill in Portland, Maine of Kos included his usual late night commentary.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen: it happened. Donald Trump is president again. I have an important announcement to make: for the next four years we get to live by airport rules: calories don’t count, and it's perfectly reasonable to have a vodka tonic at 8am." —Stephen Colbert

And more late night commentary from today.

"A new report shows that since last year the price of eggs has risen more than 35 percent, due to a shortage caused by new laws in red states that force chickens to carry their eggs to term." —Michael Che