this post was submitted on 17 Nov 2024
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203
ACLU warns new House bill would give Trump ‘dangerous’ tool to stifle free speech and target political enemies (www.independent.co.uk)
submitted 14 hours ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 17 points 9 hours ago

This bill can't pass without Democratic support ... but last week, over 50 Democrats voted for it! It didn't quite pass, but now they're trying again ... so please, if you're in the US, please call your Congresspeople!

Here's EFF's action alert. https://act.eff.org/action/tell-congress-not-to-weaponize-the-treasury-department-against-nonprofits

[–] [email protected] 63 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

I don’t think it really matters what is legal at this point because we cannot hold him accountable anyway.

[–] solsangraal 44 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

seriously it's exhausting, seeing so many people talk about "he can't do that! it's illegal" as if he faced a single fucking consequence for illegal shit before fascism

[–] [email protected] 19 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (1 children)

It's not even consequences any more. That ship has sailed.

People simply are not grasping the fact that (assuming they even care) if it's not legal, Congress can just make it legal. And if it's unconstitutional, the Supreme Court is there to declare it constitutional. The guardrails are off. Anybody not fully aboard the Trump train has been purged. He has control of every branch of government, and over half of the state governments. He can literally do what he wants because not only did the Supreme Court explicitly tell him so, but also because everybody with any kind of power, influence, or resources to stand in his way have been successfully removed. The only people left are people that will gladly allow him to step all over them so he doesn't get his shoes dirty while walking. Remember, the Supreme Court explicitly gave Trump the right to Seal-Team-Six somebody with absolute impunity. They literally asked Trump's team if immunity meant that he could Seal-Team-Six someone and not be prosecuted for it, Trump's lawyer explicitly said yes, and the Supreme Court voted in his favor. So even on the off chance you do stand up to Trump and become enough of a nuisance, he can legally just have you killed because fuck you that's why.

 There is absolutely nothing, nothing that stops Trump from invalidating freedom of the press, on the absurdly flimsy premise of "fake news is not protected by the First Amendment". And since he gets to decide what is and isn't "fake news", this means he would literally get to decide what media outlets continue operating, and which ones see their CEOs jailed for "first amendment violations."

If Trump says that, and Congress passes a bill that says he can do that, and the Supreme Court says that banning "fake news" is "constitutional", and incoming AG puppet Matt Gaetz is willing to pursue charges against CNN and MSNBC on Trump's orders, there goes freedom of the press. Full stop. Sure, it'll still technically exist. But freedom of religion is also enshrined in North Korea's constitution. Go over there with a Bible and let me know how that works out for you. The same thing would apply here. Laws and protections that the government is no longer willing to uphold or enforce may as well not exist.

The Supreme Court has already invalidated parts of the 14th amendment for being "too vague" and therefore unenforceable. The second the Supreme Court did that, the Constitution immediately stopped being the Sacred Law of the land and became simply a really old piece of paper with some guidelines that can be ignored when they become politically inconvenient. They are already talking about doing the same with the 22nd amendment. What's to stop them from doing it to the 19th? Or the 13th? Or just all of them? What's to stop them from just saying "The Constitution as a whole was written over 200 years ago and is no longer suitable for use as the basis of our legal framework in modern times" and just suspend the whole thing? They already invalidated parts of it because they felt like it, and the citizens did nothing. They're talking about invalidating another part of it, and citizens are doing nothing. What's to stop them from just saying "fuck it" and invalidating the whole damn thing? It seems to be the endgame anyway.

The chances of this happening are significantly above zero. We will be coronating a king in every way possible without actually using the word "king."

[–] solsangraal 11 points 11 hours ago

agreed. people are in denial and/or lack the awareness of any of these things to even be a blip on the horizon of their consciousness. it's exhausting being surrounded by otherwise intelligent and reasonable people still going about their day as if literally nothing just happened. every day gets worse

[–] solsangraal 28 points 13 hours ago

this has been the exact plan for a long time. get ready for "breaking" news about GOP initiatives to also eradicate:

  • freedom of the press (this doesn't just cover news media. censorship teams will prevent things from even being published--race, gender, science, LGBTQ, things critical of trump, things critical of religion, on and on and on--pretty much anything they don't like is off the table)
  • freedom of religion (obviously)
  • consumer protections
  • right to privacy (yea, this is the case now, but until now you've never had to worry about unwarranted search and seizures)
  • due process/ habeas corpus
  • financial aid/social safety nets

there is nothing there to protect you from them anymore. everything that will exist will be to protect them from you

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

And now we know which 501(3)(c) is going to be targeted in retaliation first...

[–] [email protected] 22 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

If you're wondering how this works, under this bill:

  • The Treasury Secretary can "determine" that any non-profit organization "supports terrorism."
  • The Treasury Secretary does not have to provide any supporting evidence, or even any specific accusation.
  • The non-profit will have 90 days to "appeal." Without having any idea what they're being accused of.
  • The appeal can be declined without comment.
  • The non-profit's 501(c)3 status is revoked. This essentially closes the doors of that organization.
[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

To be clear I think this bill is horrendous, but...

The non-profit will have 90 days to “appeal.” Without having any idea what they’re being accused of.

This is not quite true. In Section 4 C (ii) it states that the secretary must provide "the name of the organization or organizations with respect to which the Secretary has determined such organization provided material support" and in Section 4 C (iii) it states that the secretary must provide "a description of such material support or resources to the extent consistent with national security and law enforcement interests."

That doesn't lessen the chilling effect this bill will have nor will it lessen the damage caused. But I feel accuracy in discussing this is important.

Full text of the bill: https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/9495/text

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

After this bill, Trump will declare antifa, BLM, and pro-palestine movements as terrorist organizations

Then all leftist legal support is dead

[–] [email protected] -3 points 8 hours ago

After this bill, Trump will declare antifa, BLM, and pro-palestine movements as terrorist organizations

Possibly. But per the bill they have to at least make a show of "proving" that the organizations aided designated foreign or domestic terrorist organizations, which is defined by the Secretary of State. Yes, of course they can just define an organization as such but it's not completely evidence-free. I'm a little unclear on the process of domestic vs foreign designations - Executive Order 13224 signed by bush gives both to the Secretary of State. Still that way?

"Then all leftist legal support is dead"

Because people can't get a tax deduction? I'd hope we're slightly better than that.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

I very much appreciate this, especially the link to the actual text of the bill.

"the name of the organization or organizations with respect to which the Secretary has determined such organization provided material support"

"You've provided relief funds and services to [redacted, national security]."

"a description of such material support or resources to the extent consistent with national security and law enforcement interests."

"Can't tell you, national security."

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 hours ago

Oh very true. But there is still congressional oversight and that means that some Dems will be privy to what [redacted] actually means.

Hey, just try find a few scraps of optimism...

[–] [email protected] 22 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

And this would just be the start of fascism in America.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 hours ago

Continuation, it already started.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

The House has already rejected the bill.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Good, but 52 democrats voted in favour...wtf?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 hours ago

The call is coming from inside the house. We need to start seriously working on an alternative to the Democrats.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 hours ago

Until they bring it up again after Trump is inaugurated and gives the order to fall in line.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 12 hours ago (3 children)

Non-voters, third party throw away voters, and the “low information voters” all got together to let this happen. Participating in society isn’t that hard. Hope y’all figure that out by the midterms.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Trump voters, meanwhile, are blameless.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Dude, basic reading comprehension implies heavily, to the point of truth, that my comment is about people IN ADDITION to Trump voters.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 hours ago

There's literally nothing in your comment that actually, directly, blames Trump voters. You have to use your words on the internet.

Also? There won't be any midterms. Elections are over, you need to get with the program and be prepared for something other than playing voteball every two years.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 hours ago

This only has a chance of passing because there are 50+ Democrats on board with it. And it’s not just Democrats from red states and red areas.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 hours ago

Uhh, that's already illegal. This would have just allowed the IRS to revoke status. They can already weaponize the FBI this way. They'll take all the work product, computers, and key personnel. And it will take years of legal fights to get them back. That organization is effectively dead at that point.