1. I haven’t seen much discussion of how bad things are in Turkey. I am deeply worried for this woman (& can’t help wondering if there was a request made by the Turks.)
2. One small quibble JVL, I take your point but please reserve the term “snuff film” for the gore porn put out by various terrorist groups. Precise language is important these days.
We are in what Hannah Arendt called the banality of evil. Cooperation and law firms bow to authoritarianism without a whimper. The change will have to be a grassroots movement
I cannot listen to all the podcasts or read too much right now about all of this. I get too upset. If I read about it at night, I cannot sleep. It is all so much more worse than I thought it would be. And "normal" working people (I am retired) won't care until THEIR relative is snatched off the street, or THEIR social security check is taken. Of the price of gas goes up to $5.00.
Noem dressed for that video IMO to appeal to a certain type of MAGAt. Posing in front of those men who were obviously ordered to stand in such a way while she gave her dishonest speech is prison porn. She shamed herself and our country.
I have visited prisons with a lower security environment. Even at that level, women are given guide lines which are very strict for multiple reasons. The minute I saw how she presented hersellf I was shocked. We were instructed how to dress - nothing that was at all sexual like tight pants and shirts. We were told that the prisoners can be triggered by what women wear. That outfit and the hair was to please her self image and I am surprised that the prison authorities did not request she wear a jacket over her top. These guys never see women so her image had a greater sexual connotation. Your are right to be disgusted by the entire event and what it stands for. Wealthy white power that disregards human life. It was sickening and cruel.
They're evil, because they are incompetent. This is the natural result of electing ignorant people with zero morals to be stewards of the public trust.
Hard to believe Noem could do something more creepy than having to tell us she shot her dog and a goat or two. But she did. Glamour shot hair, makeup, Maga-sexy outfit, posing in the middle of the prison from Hell. Gonna look great on this year's Xmas card...
Kristi Noem appears very pleased that there is such a special place like El Salvador where the undesirables can be treated like this. She parades around like she can’t believe we don’t do this in our country.
Does this prison take our deportees for free, or are they expecting payment from the US government? Where are the female prisoners housed? So many questions and so few answers.
I read somewhere that El Salvador is getting 6 million dollars to house these "prisoners". cannot remember where I read it. I read so much now. Don't know how long that 6 million is good for, a month, a year, or...
The American people are paying an undisclosed price but the president of El Salvidor has said it is generous. It will be hard to trace where it goes but it is expected to got to him somehow.
I was an early subscriber to see what real conservatives were thinking, figuring I'd read the GOP of my youth (Goldwater's campaign manager's kids were my schoolmates). Instead I got constant enlightenment on what it means to be an American and even at times a liberal Democrat. My concern about the wolves is this: will their pelts be displayed on our walls? Kiss and make-up was tried in 1865 and all we got for it was 100 years of a fascist terror state.
JVL, thank you for writing this. It is so clear-eyed, and even though it's horrifying and depressing, knowing that someone else is seeing this and calling it out is a relief. I live in a north Texas suburb where it seems like people fall into two main catagories: 1) largely unaware of what's happening and consider any innocents swept up kind of a bummer but able to be shrugged off as a cost of doing business. 2) Thrilled because they are fully bought into all the maga propaganda and they think deporting people is going to "solve the housing crisis" and other nonsense. It's hard not to feel like I'm drowning alone in a sea of hatred. I will never understand how people can so easily deny the humanity of others. I'm not sure if we can get all these people to open their eyes, but I think we should call this out for what it is at every opportunity. I appreciate everyone at The Bulwark for doing just that.
Read the New York Review of Books review of Hitler's People and look especially into the face of the pretty young woman who seriously thought the GIs entering the camp she was guarding would help her clear out the dead bodies around her. They hanged her 8 months later.
Yes... one of my two questions to supporters of Herr T is which leaders/countries do YOU admire most in this list: Kim Young Un? Alexander Lukashenko? Vladamir Putin? Nicholas Maduro? Xi Jinping?? Because, as you say, we are becoming those countries led by those dictators.
Hitler dismantled any semblance of democracy in less than two months according to some views. How long will it take The Orange One?
well, he is doing a great job of this in 2 months! My husband said if he got elected, the Repubs would take power and never give it back to Dems. T will cancel the midterm election if they think the House is lost.
Been thinking about this one for a while now. It seems like the "efficiency" department is ending up spending way more money than they are saving getting rid of people in departments so it's more revenge than the need for a tax cut for the rich. Next the immigrant thing, I truly don't like the head person nor do I like the head of those that are rounding up the possible "terrorists" I say possible because it has become know that because they haven't taken time to vet or give these individuals due process that not ALL The PEOPLE they've rounded up are terrorists and this is also costing a whole lot more money than it should so again it isn't for tax cuts for the rich it's for trying to keep a campaign promise which they had no idea was going to cost so much to do and rounding up innocent people is truly NOT humane no matter how you look at it.
I've been wondering how much it cost in time and money to find and abduct the young woman from Tufts and send her to detention in Lousiana. If you have not read the story in the Guardian, March 19th, about the Canadian woman who was also put into detention it is worth it do so. She wrote it. This account plus the video of the woman abducted from a street in Boston were gut wrenching. It put an image to the Canadian's words. I cannot imagine the fear these young people felt. The Canadian's description of the experience is harrowing.
Yes it is. It also shows up in my phone's news feed. I am not sure if that is because I have a subscription.The French publication Le Monde Diplomatique (left leaning) is also available by subscription, in English. I find it fascinating to see what other countries say about the world and the US. The Telegraph and The Times are also available. The Guardian leans left and the Telegraph leans right. When I lived abroad I was shocked how, in general, the US news was filtered. All countries have their filters but Americans do not tend to read the news from other countries. I think that is dangerous if they want to understand the world in a broader way ;)
Can it get worse? You bet!
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/an-administrative-error-sends-a-man-to-a-salvadoran-prison/682254/?gift=1RP2iN-SC4WLecur_Crk2bpzveYXrRzVY-EgLaiUyiI&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
:-((
1. I haven’t seen much discussion of how bad things are in Turkey. I am deeply worried for this woman (& can’t help wondering if there was a request made by the Turks.)
2. One small quibble JVL, I take your point but please reserve the term “snuff film” for the gore porn put out by various terrorist groups. Precise language is important these days.
She is evil incarnate with an ego out of control. I see her commercials and feel like I’m living in a country ruled by Stalin or some other eveik
We are in what Hannah Arendt called the banality of evil. Cooperation and law firms bow to authoritarianism without a whimper. The change will have to be a grassroots movement
I cannot listen to all the podcasts or read too much right now about all of this. I get too upset. If I read about it at night, I cannot sleep. It is all so much more worse than I thought it would be. And "normal" working people (I am retired) won't care until THEIR relative is snatched off the street, or THEIR social security check is taken. Of the price of gas goes up to $5.00.
Noem dressed for that video IMO to appeal to a certain type of MAGAt. Posing in front of those men who were obviously ordered to stand in such a way while she gave her dishonest speech is prison porn. She shamed herself and our country.
I have visited prisons with a lower security environment. Even at that level, women are given guide lines which are very strict for multiple reasons. The minute I saw how she presented hersellf I was shocked. We were instructed how to dress - nothing that was at all sexual like tight pants and shirts. We were told that the prisoners can be triggered by what women wear. That outfit and the hair was to please her self image and I am surprised that the prison authorities did not request she wear a jacket over her top. These guys never see women so her image had a greater sexual connotation. Your are right to be disgusted by the entire event and what it stands for. Wealthy white power that disregards human life. It was sickening and cruel.
They're evil, because they are incompetent. This is the natural result of electing ignorant people with zero morals to be stewards of the public trust.
Hard to believe Noem could do something more creepy than having to tell us she shot her dog and a goat or two. But she did. Glamour shot hair, makeup, Maga-sexy outfit, posing in the middle of the prison from Hell. Gonna look great on this year's Xmas card...
Kristi Noem appears very pleased that there is such a special place like El Salvador where the undesirables can be treated like this. She parades around like she can’t believe we don’t do this in our country.
Does this prison take our deportees for free, or are they expecting payment from the US government? Where are the female prisoners housed? So many questions and so few answers.
I read somewhere that El Salvador is getting 6 million dollars to house these "prisoners". cannot remember where I read it. I read so much now. Don't know how long that 6 million is good for, a month, a year, or...
The American people are paying an undisclosed price but the president of El Salvidor has said it is generous. It will be hard to trace where it goes but it is expected to got to him somehow.
What would we do without you and the Bulwark team, JVL🙏❤️
I was an early subscriber to see what real conservatives were thinking, figuring I'd read the GOP of my youth (Goldwater's campaign manager's kids were my schoolmates). Instead I got constant enlightenment on what it means to be an American and even at times a liberal Democrat. My concern about the wolves is this: will their pelts be displayed on our walls? Kiss and make-up was tried in 1865 and all we got for it was 100 years of a fascist terror state.
JVL, thank you for writing this. It is so clear-eyed, and even though it's horrifying and depressing, knowing that someone else is seeing this and calling it out is a relief. I live in a north Texas suburb where it seems like people fall into two main catagories: 1) largely unaware of what's happening and consider any innocents swept up kind of a bummer but able to be shrugged off as a cost of doing business. 2) Thrilled because they are fully bought into all the maga propaganda and they think deporting people is going to "solve the housing crisis" and other nonsense. It's hard not to feel like I'm drowning alone in a sea of hatred. I will never understand how people can so easily deny the humanity of others. I'm not sure if we can get all these people to open their eyes, but I think we should call this out for what it is at every opportunity. I appreciate everyone at The Bulwark for doing just that.
Read the New York Review of Books review of Hitler's People and look especially into the face of the pretty young woman who seriously thought the GIs entering the camp she was guarding would help her clear out the dead bodies around her. They hanged her 8 months later.
Yes... one of my two questions to supporters of Herr T is which leaders/countries do YOU admire most in this list: Kim Young Un? Alexander Lukashenko? Vladamir Putin? Nicholas Maduro? Xi Jinping?? Because, as you say, we are becoming those countries led by those dictators.
Hitler dismantled any semblance of democracy in less than two months according to some views. How long will it take The Orange One?
well, he is doing a great job of this in 2 months! My husband said if he got elected, the Repubs would take power and never give it back to Dems. T will cancel the midterm election if they think the House is lost.
Been thinking about this one for a while now. It seems like the "efficiency" department is ending up spending way more money than they are saving getting rid of people in departments so it's more revenge than the need for a tax cut for the rich. Next the immigrant thing, I truly don't like the head person nor do I like the head of those that are rounding up the possible "terrorists" I say possible because it has become know that because they haven't taken time to vet or give these individuals due process that not ALL The PEOPLE they've rounded up are terrorists and this is also costing a whole lot more money than it should so again it isn't for tax cuts for the rich it's for trying to keep a campaign promise which they had no idea was going to cost so much to do and rounding up innocent people is truly NOT humane no matter how you look at it.
I've been wondering how much it cost in time and money to find and abduct the young woman from Tufts and send her to detention in Lousiana. If you have not read the story in the Guardian, March 19th, about the Canadian woman who was also put into detention it is worth it do so. She wrote it. This account plus the video of the woman abducted from a street in Boston were gut wrenching. It put an image to the Canadian's words. I cannot imagine the fear these young people felt. The Canadian's description of the experience is harrowing.
these detention centers make a lot of money for each day they keep people captive. Therefore, the longer they keep them, the more money they make.
Thank you is the Guardian on line?
Yes it is. It also shows up in my phone's news feed. I am not sure if that is because I have a subscription.The French publication Le Monde Diplomatique (left leaning) is also available by subscription, in English. I find it fascinating to see what other countries say about the world and the US. The Telegraph and The Times are also available. The Guardian leans left and the Telegraph leans right. When I lived abroad I was shocked how, in general, the US news was filtered. All countries have their filters but Americans do not tend to read the news from other countries. I think that is dangerous if they want to understand the world in a broader way ;)
Sickening doesn't begin to describe this. But it's what you get when the country is run by people who are profoundly ignorant, and bereft of decency.