#5thamendment — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #5thamendment, aggregated by home.social.
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Oregon Federal Judge Says ICE’s Warrantless Arrests Are Illegal
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Oregon Federal Judge Says ICE’s Warrantless Arrests Are Illegal
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Oregon Federal Judge Says ICE’s Warrantless Arrests Are Illegal
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Oregon Federal Judge Says ICE’s Warrantless Arrests Are Illegal
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Oregon Federal Judge Says ICE’s Warrantless Arrests Are Illegal
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2/ don't take my word for it, here's a criminal defense attorney and a former police officer walking through all the reasons you should not talk to the police, and every point these guys make in the lecture is one thousand times more relevant when it comes to the #FBI / #DOJ under #KashPatel and #PamBondi.
the lecture includes a helpful example where the lawyer successfully entraps almost everyone in the class into saying the kind of thing that could land you in prison if you were talking to the FBI. it's not hard.
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the #FBI is now officially visiting the homes of people spotted at protests like #NoKings, #ICE, etc.
it boggles the mind that there are people at #protests in the US who, upon finding #FBI agents at their door asking “do you have a few minutes to talk about the protests?” answer with anything other than “do you have a warrant?” followed by a polite request that they leave your property.
this isn’t complicated. you need to shut the fuck up. the #5thAmendment exists for a reason. shutting the fuck up cannot be used against you, for any reason, ever. not shutting the fuck up will never help you. it can only hurt you.
any false statement to the FBI can be charged as a crime. even if you just forgot. even if you mix up the order of events. even if you tell the truth but the agents find another person whose story contradicts yours. even if you tell the truth but the agents misremember what you said (!!!).
talking to the FBI is much more legally perilous than talking to the police (and you shouldn’t do that either). talking to Kash Patel's FBI is far more perilous than talking to the old FBI.
i know it’s hard. you want to be helpful. you think if you stay silent they'll find you suspicious. you want to explain yourself. it’s a very natural human thing and that’s exactly what they’re going to use against you. so here’s a helpful script you can follow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqo5RYOp4nQ
literally every single lawyer in the united states will tell you exactly what i’m telling you now. tell a friend. tell all your friends. tell random people you see on the street.
and shut. the. fuck. up.
don't be like this guy, who helpfully stepped out of his house to chat with the FBI outside the range of audio recording for most of an hour: https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/video-fbi-agents-visit-anti-ice-protester
#STFU #shutTheFuckUp #PSA #uspol #uspolitics #KashPatel #law #lawfedi
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Supreme Court’s ‘Go Ahead And Round Up All The Brown People’ Decision Is Being Challenged In Court
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We the People: The Right to Remain Silent : Throughline : NPR
#5ThAmendment #FifthAmendment #Miranda
https://www.npr.org/2025/07/31/1256500268/throughline-right-to-remain-silent -
#LegalAF Judge Slaps #Trump #ICE with #TRO for #Violating #Immigrants #Constitutional #Rights - Judge Frimpong in LA just issued 2 TROs against Trump Admin #ICE #DHS to stop their violation of suspected #undocumented #immigrants #4thAmendment #rights against #illegal #search and #seizure and #5thAmendment rights to #legal counsel when #arrested. Click here to read the Judge's order: https://substack.com/redirect/5db2078f-36a7-446a-905b-839e716a4f59?j=eyJ1IjoiMjJ5NTBrIn0.oP2fUcNw-EU7zklYEMRQBh9oi2VHOHvW3ElcPQqG6aE #trump #maga #democracy #civilliberties #project2025 #pamBondi #kristinoem #police
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#Politics #ICE #5thAmendment #Terrorism #Rascism #alt #Baseball #Manhatten
Arron Parnas 7/11/25
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#StephenMiller says #Trump administration is ‘actively looking at’ suspending #HabeasCorpus
#law #immigration #Constitution #DueProcess #5thAmendment #14thAmendment #AmericanAutocracy #dictatorship #tyranny
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-stephen-miller-says-trump-administration-is-actively-looking-at-suspending-habeas-corpus -
[another noteworthy section is on Souter’s confirmation hearings]
When the Senate #Judiciary Cmte hearing began…Senators & reporters quickly realized that Souter was an impressively erudite nominee.…Amid all the concepts & issues he was asked to address, 2…stand out as most revealing: #liberty & #precedent. …Specifically, Souter stressed that in the #DueProcess clause language of the #5thAmendment & #14thAmendment, "the concept of liberty IS NOT LIMITED BY THE SPECIFIC SUBJECTS.”
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“…whatever differences we may have as Americans, the #Constitution is the common ground on which we stand. It’s what binds us across time & generations. ....It’s what makes us one people,” #MikePence said.
His comments came hours after an interview w/ #Trump aired in which he was asked whether US #citizens & #noncitizens both deserve #DueProcess as laid out in the #5thAmendment of the Constitution.…
“I don’t know.” Trump said.
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“…whatever differences we may have as Americans, the #Constitution is the common ground on which we stand. It’s what binds us across time & generations. ....It’s what makes us one people,” #MikePence said.
His comments came hours after an interview w/ #Trump aired in which he was asked whether US #citizens & #noncitizens both deserve #DueProcess as laid out in the #5thAmendment of the Constitution.…
“I don’t know.” Trump said.
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“…whatever differences we may have as Americans, the #Constitution is the common ground on which we stand. It’s what binds us across time & generations. ....It’s what makes us one people,” #MikePence said.
His comments came hours after an interview w/ #Trump aired in which he was asked whether US #citizens & #noncitizens both deserve #DueProcess as laid out in the #5thAmendment of the Constitution.…
“I don’t know.” Trump said.
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“…whatever differences we may have as Americans, the #Constitution is the common ground on which we stand. It’s what binds us across time & generations. ....It’s what makes us one people,” #MikePence said.
His comments came hours after an interview w/ #Trump aired in which he was asked whether US #citizens & #noncitizens both deserve #DueProcess as laid out in the #5thAmendment of the Constitution.…
“I don’t know.” Trump said.
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"the #FifthAmendment expressly states that “No *person* shall … be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of #law….”...
You don’t have to be a lawyer to understand that this means everyone in the #US... is entitled to #DueProcess. To say you “don’t know” whether you can agree w/the clear language of the #5thAmendment means you aren’t even trying to defend the #Constitution. Rather, you are dismissing and defying it."
- @jaykuo -
"I don't know. I'm not, I’m not a lawyer. I don't know," #Trump said, adding that such a requirement would mean "we'd have to have a million or 2 million or 3 million trials."
#law #immigration #CivilRights #DueProcess #5thAmendment #14thAmendment
Read the full transcript of Trump’s intervie with 'Meet the Press' moderator Kristen Welker:
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#Trump said he was unsure whether people in the #US are entitled to #DueProcess rights guaranteed in the US #Constitution as his admin pushes aggressively to #deport immigrants who are in the country illegally & other non-citizens [& even #citizens].
Kristen Welker asked Trump whether he agreed w/Secy of #State #MarcoRubio, who said last month that "of course" all people in the US are entitled to due process….
#law #immigration #CivilRights #5thAmendment #14thAmendment
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-says-hes-unsure-whether-people-us-are-entitled-due-process-2025-05-04/ -
Trump is claiming that your #5thAmendment privileges and #DueProcess constitutionally guarantees before some is imprisoned is a nuisance that should be ignored, just at the moment the #SupremeCourt is so deeply skeptical of him and his actions. @mspopok.bsky.social discusses youtu.be/oBSsWJId8qI?...
Trump SETS MAJOR TRAP on HIMSE... -
KUTV: PHOTOS: Thousands of Utah protesters demand accountability as #5thAmendment rights ignored..
They were there to advocate for the constitutionally guaranteed #righttodueprocess and demand President Donald #Trump and his administration be held accountable for not upholding that guarantee -- an ongoing issue for the executive branch this term. -
Amazing truth & fact filled press conference from Sen #VanHollen on his visit to #ElSalvador & the ILLEGAL #rendition of #KilmarAbregoGarcia by #Trump
#law #contempt #immigration #AlienEnemiesAct #ExtraordinaryRendition #StateSponsoredAbduction #Constitution #CivilRights #HumanRights #DueProcess #DualState #14thAmendment #5thAmendment #ChecksAndBalances #JudicialBranch #Judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #AbuseOfPower #Trump
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The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals cites news articles about #Trump telling #Bukele that "homegrowns are next."
#KilmarAbregoGarcia #law #immigration #AlienEnemiesAct #ExtraordinaryRendition #StateSponsoredAbduction #Constitution #CivilRights #HumanRights #DueProcess #DualState #14thAmendment #5thAmendment #ChecksAndBalances #JudicialBranch #Judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #AbuseOfPower
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WOW
Judge Wilkinson writes,
"We yet cling to the hope that it is not naïve to believe our good brethren in the Executive Branch perceive the rule of law as vital to the American ethos."
Beautiful.
#Trump #KilmarAbregoGarcia #law #immigration #AlienEnemiesAct #ExtraordinaryRendition #StateSponsoredAbduction #Constitution #CivilRights #HumanRights #DueProcess #DualState #14thAmendment #5thAmendment #ChecksAndBalances #JudicialBranch #Judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #AbuseOfPower #Trump
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Just released Judge #Xinis letter order on discovery procedure in #KilmarAbregoGarcia v. #KristiNoem et al.
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mdd.578815/gov.uscourts.mdd.578815.80.0.pdf
#law #immigration #AlienEnemiesAct #ExtraordinaryRendition #StateSponsoredAbduction #Constitution #CivilRights #HumanRights #DueProcess #DualState #14thAmendment #5thAmendment #ChecksAndBalances #JudicialBranch #Judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #AbuseOfPower #Trump
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick has handily outlined #KilmarAbregoGarcia’s legal #immigration history to show that no matter how many times #Trump & his thugs say it, there is no proof #AbregoGarcia is or ever was a M-13 gang member.
#law #ExtraordinaryRendition #StateSponsoredAbduction #Constitution #CivilRights #HumanRights #DueProcess #DualState #14thAmendment #5thAmendment #ChecksAndBalances #JudicialBranch #Judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #AbuseOfPower
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After #SCOTUS’ ruling, the original 5 plaintiffs in the ACLU & Democracy Forward case against the #AlienEnemiesAct split up.
Now 2 class action #habeas suits have been filed, one in New York with 2 plaintiffs & one in Texas with the other three.
#law #immigration #ExtraordinaryRendition #StateSponsoredAbduction #Constitution #CivilRights #HumanRights #DueProcess #DualState #14thAmendment #5thAmendment #AbuseOfPower #Trump
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-08/trump-faces-new-deportation-challenge-after-supreme-court-order -
And here Karoline Leavitt, #Trump’s WhiteHouse propagandist, lies through her teeth about this when asked.
#FactCheck #TrumpLies #law #immigration #AlienEnemiesAct #ExtraordinaryRendition #StateSponsoredAbduction #Constitution #CivilRights #HumanRights #DueProcess #DualState #14thAmendment #5thAmendment #AbuseOfPower
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"All nine justices made it clear that the government’s original method of rushing people onto planes with no notice & no warning is not appropriate," said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick.
#SCOTUS #law #immigration #AlienEnemiesAct #ExtraordinaryRendition #StateSponsoredAbduction #Constitution #CivilRights #HumanRights #DueProcess #DualState #14thAmendment #5thAmendment #ChecksAndBalances #JudicialBranch #Judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #AbuseOfPower #Trump
https://newrepublic.com/article/193761/sotomayor-harsh-dissent-trump-arrests-offers-terrifying-warning -
🚨🚨 This afternoon, the #ACLU filed a new #ClassAction #habeas lawsuit in NY challenging the #AlienEnemiesAct *#deportations*.
They are seeking a #TRO similar to what Judge Boasberg ordered.
#immigration #law #ExtraordinaryRendition #StateSponsoredAbduction #AlienEnemiesAct #Constitution #14thAmendment #5thAmendment #DueProcess #CivilRights #HumanRights #AbuseOfPower #Trump
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Multiple people have already died in #Trump’s custody
These are #DeathCamps
…44-yr-old #MaksymChernyak, a #Ukranian man suddenly fell ill & died at #Krome last month.
#law #immigration #AlienEnemiesAct #ExtraordinaryRendition #StateSponsoredAbduction #Constitution #CivilRights #HumanRights #DueProcess #DualState #14thAmendment #5thAmendment #ChecksAndBalances #JudicialBranch #Judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #AbuseOfPower
https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/overcrowded-miami-ice-facility-seen-in-new-tiktok-video-22704351 -
Multiple people have already died in #Trump’s custody
These are #DeathCamps
…44-yr-old #MaksymChernyak, a #Ukranian man suddenly fell ill & died at #Krome last month.
#law #immigration #AlienEnemiesAct #ExtraordinaryRendition #StateSponsoredAbduction #Constitution #CivilRights #HumanRights #DueProcess #DualState #14thAmendment #5thAmendment #ChecksAndBalances #JudicialBranch #Judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #AbuseOfPower
https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/overcrowded-miami-ice-facility-seen-in-new-tiktok-video-22704351 -
Multiple people have already died in #Trump’s custody
These are #DeathCamps
…44-yr-old #MaksymChernyak, a #Ukranian man suddenly fell ill & died at #Krome last month.
#law #immigration #AlienEnemiesAct #ExtraordinaryRendition #StateSponsoredAbduction #Constitution #CivilRights #HumanRights #DueProcess #DualState #14thAmendment #5thAmendment #ChecksAndBalances #JudicialBranch #Judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #AbuseOfPower
https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/overcrowded-miami-ice-facility-seen-in-new-tiktok-video-22704351 -
Multiple people have already died in #Trump’s custody
These are #DeathCamps
…44-yr-old #MaksymChernyak, a #Ukranian man suddenly fell ill & died at #Krome last month.
#law #immigration #AlienEnemiesAct #ExtraordinaryRendition #StateSponsoredAbduction #Constitution #CivilRights #HumanRights #DueProcess #DualState #14thAmendment #5thAmendment #ChecksAndBalances #JudicialBranch #Judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #AbuseOfPower
https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/overcrowded-miami-ice-facility-seen-in-new-tiktok-video-22704351 -
Multiple people have already died in #Trump’s custody
These are #DeathCamps
…44-yr-old #MaksymChernyak, a #Ukranian man suddenly fell ill & died at #Krome last month.
#law #immigration #AlienEnemiesAct #ExtraordinaryRendition #StateSponsoredAbduction #Constitution #CivilRights #HumanRights #DueProcess #DualState #14thAmendment #5thAmendment #ChecksAndBalances #JudicialBranch #Judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #AbuseOfPower
https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/overcrowded-miami-ice-facility-seen-in-new-tiktok-video-22704351 -
Here we go
#Trump asked #SCOTUS on Friday to lift a temporary order blocking him from using a 1798 law to swiftly deport *alleged* #Venezuelan gang members as part of his 2-month-old admin's hardline approach to #immigration.
#law #Constitution #DueProcess #CivilRights #DualState #ConstitutionalCrisis #AlienEnemiesAct #14thAmendment #5thAmendment #CivilRights #ChecksAndBalances #JudicialBranch #Judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment #AbuseOfPower
https://www.reuters.com/legal/trump-asks-us-supreme-court-intervene-deportations-fight-2025-03-28/ -
The #Trump admin invokes the #StateSecrets privilege, saying it will give Judge #Boasberg no more information about the #deportation flights to inform his decision about whether the govt defied his order.
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.278436/gov.uscourts.dcd.278436.56.0.pdf
#law #Constitution #immigration #DueProcess #CivilRights #DualState #ConstitutionalCrisis #AlienEnemiesAct #14thAmendment #5thAmendment #CivilRights #ChecksAndBalances #JudicialBranch #Judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment #AbuseOfPower #Trump
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Judge just said “#Nazis got better treatment under the #AEA”
They had hearing boards.
The people #Trump deported had no opportunity to apply for habeas. The planes started leaving 2 hours after Trump’s proclamation was signed.
#law #Constitution #immigration #DueProcess #CivilRights #DualState #ConstitutionalCrisis #AlienEnemiesAct #14thAmendment #5thAmendment #CivilRights #ChecksAndBalances #JudicialBranch #Judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment #AbuseOfPower
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The US Court of Appeals for DC is still hearing #Trump’s appeal & request to remove Judge #Boasberg this afternoon at 1:30PM.
#law #Constitution #immigration #AlienEnemiesAct #14thAmendment #5thAmendment #DueProcess #Venezuela #CivilRights #ChecksAndBalances #JudicialBranch #Judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment #ConstitutionalCrisis #AbuseOfPower
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🚨🚨 Just released a 37-page ruling from Chief Judge James #Boasberg, denying the #Trump administration request to vacate its TROs preventing the government from enforcing the #AlienEnemiesAct against #Venezuelans.
🚨No one subject to the #AEA can be deported without a hearing.🚨
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.278436/gov.uscourts.dcd.278436.53.0.pdf
#law #Constitution #immigration #14thAmendment #5thAmendment #DueProcess #CivilRights #DualState #JudicialBranch #Judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment #ConstitutionalCrisis
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In response to the #DOJ's filing today in the #AlienEnemiesAct case, Judge #Boasberg ordered the #Trump admin to send him a sealed explanation of whether they in fact violated his court order.
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69741724/jgg-v-trump/
#law #Constitution #immigration #14thAmendment #5thAmendment #DueProcess #Venezuela #CivilRights #ChecksAndBalances #JudicialBranch #Judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment #ConstitutionalCrisis #AbuseOfPower #Trump
Here is the new minute entry in #JGGvTrump:
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🧵 coverage of Judge #Boasberg’s hearing via Aaron Reichlin-Melnick:
Chief Judge Boasberg begins the hearing. Lee Gelernt & others from the #ACLU are there in person, along with others from #DemocracyForward.
For the government, appearing are Abishek Kambli & August Flentje.
#law #Constitution #14thAmendment #5thAmendment #DueProcess #immigration #CivilRights #ChecksAndBalances #JudicialBranch #Judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #AbuseOfPower #Trump
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"Thanks to the great work of the Department of State, these heinous monsters were extracted & removed to El Salvador where they will no longer be able to pose any threat to the American People," #Trump WH press secy Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
"Ooopsie… too late," El Salvador's Pres Nayib #Bukele posted, in response to the judicial order.
#law #immigration #DueProcess #14thAmendment #5thAmendment #CivilRights #HumanRights #demonization #WhiteSupremacy #Venezuela #geopolitics #USpol
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@ai6yr on a related note, I just found this on BlueSky. It’s fabulous. If anyone has a question about what to say to the cops, there’s a good chance this short video answers it:
https://bsky.app/profile/nashishereforit.bsky.social/post/3ljed2qxdek2k
Or via IG for those not on BlueSky: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DGTVy47oDP2/
Via @Gilllandry on IG, @nashishereforit on BlueSky
#Protests #Resist #PSA #PublicServiceAnnouncement #5thAmendment #ShutTheFuckUp
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There’s no historical or contemporary evidence that communism is practical, where “communism” means, at a minimum, the elimination of private property.1 This is a commonplace in political debate. It goes without saying. It doesn’t need support. Everybody knows it. It’s just obvious that communism can’t possibly work. But, as with so many such beliefs, it’s completely wrong. There’s plenty of evidence that communism would work, there’s plenty of evidence that it’s a natural state of human organization, almost a default. The evidence that it would work just fine lies in the fact that it keeps breaking out all over despite the extraordinary and ongoing expenditures of power and wealth the ruling class has exercised throughout the history of the United States to prevent it.2The American part of this story begins with the constitution itself. In Federalist #10 James Madison argued that representative democracy rather than direct democracy was necessary to prevent people without property, who of course are the majority, from voting away private property rights. As he said, preventing this is “the principle task of modern legislation”. Republicanism is such an effective means of preventing this that it’s required by the Constitution in Article IV Section 4: “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government.” One of the main functions of American representative democracy is preventing communism.
And when the Constitution talks about guarantees like this it’s talking about the exercise of state violence. Violent enforcement of laws is woven into the very fabric of the Constitution. The Fourth and the Fifth Amendments place explicit limits on the use of violence, which assumes that violence will be used. The same is true of the First Amendment, which limits the kinds of laws Congress can be passed, the contexts in which violent enforcement can be used. Without violent enforcement as the default position there would be no need to limit its use.
The Constitution’s requirements, like all laws, are enforced by violence. When it guarantees “a Republican Form of Government” it’s your ruling class promising to violently prevent you from living in a direct democracy which, as Madison warned, would lead to the elimination of private property rights. And this isn’t just a historical curiosity. Preventing communism is still “the principle task of modern legislation.” Enforcement of laws that authorize violence to protect the property rights of landlords and employers and to prevent communist organization from emerging is still the primary function of police, and without constant police repression people tend to organize communally.
Homeless encampments are an excellent example. Oppressed, impoverished people band together to support one another. They can look out for each other and organize with their communities to survive, and even to thrive if allowed. This may sound utopian, but it’s not. Here in Los Angeles a few years ago homeless people and housed activist supporters managed to use some of the space created by the pandemic to build a thriving communist community in Echo Park. As the residents put it in a public statement, which is worth quoting in full:
A year has gone by in which housed and unhoused neighbors have worked together to create a beautiful and much lauded homeless run outdoor community at Echo Park Lake. We have built and share kitchens, hot showers, community garden, trash cleanup, a sense of security, safety, and stability, and healing for drug addiction and mental illness with our own pioneering forms of therapy in the absence of any help from the city government. This community has drawn widespread neighborhood and Los Angeles organizational support, including Street Watch LA, Ground Game LA, DSA LA, and LA CAN. We have also received media coverage from NPR, the LA Times, and Knock LA. As was reported in the LA Times, two weeks ago local councilman Mitch O’Farrell in conjunction with LAPD declared their plan to forcibly displace up to fifty plus tent dwellers of Echo Park Lake as soon as possible without providing an adequate alternative.
The following is the statement of the Echo Park Tent Community:
For the past year or at least ever since Covid hit we’ve been left alone. Worse, we’ve been intentionally deprived of our basic needs like when the city cut off street lights and water fountains, but only on the “homeless” side of the park. Or when they decided to no longer throw away “homeless” trash, their words not ours.
The point is, we’ve had nothing but each other this past year and it’s honestly been a relief. The biggest pandemic in years actually turned out to be a blessing for us. Without the constant LAPD and city harassment uprooting our lives we’ve been able to grow. To come together as a community, not just unhoused but housed as well and work together for the mutual aid and benefit of each other.
Greater than that, we’ve gotten together as a community, unhoused with housed and did things together outside the context of charity or pity. We did things together for the sake of doing things together, as one community not separated by labels. Together we’ve been able to see and enjoy each others’ common humanity in a way the city, with its lens of economy never could.
So to sum it up: to Mitch O’Farrell, our demand is simply this; please continue to leave us alone, or stand with us. Ignore us as if we didn’t exist, much like you’ve been doing, and enjoy your corruption and greed, or come out and stand with us. Stand in solidarity with all of your constituents, not just those with money and housing. And watch as We make sure District 13 becomes a beacon of light for the world. Reshaping and reimagining what it means to be a community of people living together.
This isn’t a fantasy. I was here, and I saw it working. The problem didn’t lie with the communism but with the inevitable police repression, which involved hundreds of cops. This would be every encampment if not for police violence. The amount of money the government spends on clearing encampments shows that they know quite well that communism works. Why else go to such lengths to prevent it? And again, it’s not just encampments but the entire web of laws which criminalize sharing and cooperation. Zoning codes prevent unrelated people from sharing homes, giving away food in public is often illegal. Letting homeless people sleep in churches is a crime. The list goes on and on.
And laws don’t enforce themselves. As I said, all of these laws require massive expenditures on police, on courts, on legislation, on public relations to cover up the disgust that most people feel for their violent enforcement, and so on. If communism doesn’t work why has the ruling class spent hundreds of years and untold zillions of dollars preventing it? The fact is that not only does communism work just fine, but most people are sympathetic with it. The people it threatens know this quite well, as shown by their diligence in repressing it. Forms of human organization that don’t work don’t need to be prevented, they don’t ever arise, or are abandoned quickly. Communism works, just ask your bosses.
- This essay is inspired by this mastodon post, but the sentiment is ubiquitous.
- Not just the United States, of course, but at least since the invention of capitalism about 500 years ago.
https://chez-risk.in/2024/08/11/communism-works-just-ask-your-bosses/
#1stAmendment #4thAmendment #5thAmendment #Communism #DirectDemocracy #EchoPark #Federalist10 #Homelessness #JamesMadison #RepresentativeDemocracy #RepublicanFormOfGovernment #StateViolence #USConstitution #USConstitutionArticleIV
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There’s no historical or contemporary evidence that communism is practical, where “communism” means, at a minimum, the elimination of private property.1 This is a commonplace in political debate. It goes without saying. It doesn’t need support. Everybody knows it. It’s just obvious that communism can’t possibly work. But, as with so many such beliefs, it’s completely wrong. There’s plenty of evidence that communism would work, there’s plenty of evidence that it’s a natural state of human organization, almost a default. The evidence that it would work just fine lies in the fact that it keeps breaking out all over despite the extraordinary and ongoing expenditures of power and wealth the ruling class has exercised throughout the history of the United States to prevent it.2The American part of this story begins with the constitution itself. In Federalist #10 James Madison argued that representative democracy rather than direct democracy was necessary to prevent people without property, who of course are the majority, from voting away private property rights. As he said, preventing this is “the principle task of modern legislation”. Republicanism is such an effective means of preventing this that it’s required by the Constitution in Article IV Section 4: “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government.” One of the main functions of American representative democracy is preventing communism.
And when the Constitution talks about guarantees like this it’s talking about the exercise of state violence. Violent enforcement of laws is woven into the very fabric of the Constitution. The Fourth and the Fifth Amendments place explicit limits on the use of violence, which assumes that violence will be used. The same is true of the First Amendment, which limits the kinds of laws Congress can be passed, the contexts in which violent enforcement can be used. Without violent enforcement as the default position there would be no need to limit its use.
The Constitution’s requirements, like all laws, are enforced by violence. When it guarantees “a Republican Form of Government” it’s your ruling class promising to violently prevent you from living in a direct democracy which, as Madison warned, would lead to the elimination of private property rights. And this isn’t just a historical curiosity. Preventing communism is still “the principle task of modern legislation.” Enforcement of laws that authorize violence to protect the property rights of landlords and employers and to prevent communist organization from emerging is still the primary function of police, and without constant police repression people tend to organize communally.
Homeless encampments are an excellent example. Oppressed, impoverished people band together to support one another. They can look out for each other and organize with their communities to survive, and even to thrive if allowed. This may sound utopian, but it’s not. Here in Los Angeles a few years ago homeless people and housed activist supporters managed to use some of the space created by the pandemic to build a thriving communist community in Echo Park. As the residents put it in a public statement, which is worth quoting in full:
A year has gone by in which housed and unhoused neighbors have worked together to create a beautiful and much lauded homeless run outdoor community at Echo Park Lake. We have built and share kitchens, hot showers, community garden, trash cleanup, a sense of security, safety, and stability, and healing for drug addiction and mental illness with our own pioneering forms of therapy in the absence of any help from the city government. This community has drawn widespread neighborhood and Los Angeles organizational support, including Street Watch LA, Ground Game LA, DSA LA, and LA CAN. We have also received media coverage from NPR, the LA Times, and Knock LA. As was reported in the LA Times, two weeks ago local councilman Mitch O’Farrell in conjunction with LAPD declared their plan to forcibly displace up to fifty plus tent dwellers of Echo Park Lake as soon as possible without providing an adequate alternative.
The following is the statement of the Echo Park Tent Community:
For the past year or at least ever since Covid hit we’ve been left alone. Worse, we’ve been intentionally deprived of our basic needs like when the city cut off street lights and water fountains, but only on the “homeless” side of the park. Or when they decided to no longer throw away “homeless” trash, their words not ours.
The point is, we’ve had nothing but each other this past year and it’s honestly been a relief. The biggest pandemic in years actually turned out to be a blessing for us. Without the constant LAPD and city harassment uprooting our lives we’ve been able to grow. To come together as a community, not just unhoused but housed as well and work together for the mutual aid and benefit of each other.
Greater than that, we’ve gotten together as a community, unhoused with housed and did things together outside the context of charity or pity. We did things together for the sake of doing things together, as one community not separated by labels. Together we’ve been able to see and enjoy each others’ common humanity in a way the city, with its lens of economy never could.
So to sum it up: to Mitch O’Farrell, our demand is simply this; please continue to leave us alone, or stand with us. Ignore us as if we didn’t exist, much like you’ve been doing, and enjoy your corruption and greed, or come out and stand with us. Stand in solidarity with all of your constituents, not just those with money and housing. And watch as We make sure District 13 becomes a beacon of light for the world. Reshaping and reimagining what it means to be a community of people living together.
This isn’t a fantasy. I was here, and I saw it working. The problem didn’t lie with the communism but with the inevitable police repression, which involved hundreds of cops. This would be every encampment if not for police violence. The amount of money the government spends on clearing encampments shows that they know quite well that communism works. Why else go to such lengths to prevent it? And again, it’s not just encampments but the entire web of laws which criminalize sharing and cooperation. Zoning codes prevent unrelated people from sharing homes, giving away food in public is often illegal. Letting homeless people sleep in churches is a crime. The list goes on and on.
And laws don’t enforce themselves. As I said, all of these laws require massive expenditures on police, on courts, on legislation, on public relations to cover up the disgust that most people feel for their violent enforcement, and so on. If communism doesn’t work why has the ruling class spent hundreds of years and untold zillions of dollars preventing it? The fact is that not only does communism work just fine, but most people are sympathetic with it. The people it threatens know this quite well, as shown by their diligence in repressing it. Forms of human organization that don’t work don’t need to be prevented, they don’t ever arise, or are abandoned quickly. Communism works, just ask your bosses.
- This essay is inspired by this mastodon post, but the sentiment is ubiquitous.
- Not just the United States, of course, but at least since the invention of capitalism about 500 years ago.
https://chez-risk.in/2024/08/11/communism-works-just-ask-your-bosses/
#1stAmendment #4thAmendment #5thAmendment #Communism #DirectDemocracy #EchoPark #Federalist10 #Homelessness #JamesMadison #RepresentativeDemocracy #RepublicanFormOfGovernment #StateViolence #USConstitution #USConstitutionArticleIV
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There’s no historical or contemporary evidence that communism is practical, where “communism” means, at a minimum, the elimination of private property.1 This is a commonplace in political debate. It goes without saying. It doesn’t need support. Everybody knows it. It’s just obvious that communism can’t possibly work. But, as with so many such beliefs, it’s completely wrong. There’s plenty of evidence that communism would work, there’s plenty of evidence that it’s a natural state of human organization, almost a default. The evidence that it would work just fine lies in the fact that it keeps breaking out all over despite the extraordinary and ongoing expenditures of power and wealth the ruling class has exercised throughout the history of the United States to prevent it.2The American part of this story begins with the constitution itself. In Federalist #10 James Madison argued that representative democracy rather than direct democracy was necessary to prevent people without property, who of course are the majority, from voting away private property rights. As he said, preventing this is “the principle task of modern legislation”. Republicanism is such an effective means of preventing this that it’s required by the Constitution in Article IV Section 4: “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government.” One of the main functions of American representative democracy is preventing communism.
And when the Constitution talks about guarantees like this it’s talking about the exercise of state violence. Violent enforcement of laws is woven into the very fabric of the Constitution. The Fourth and the Fifth Amendments place explicit limits on the use of violence, which assumes that violence will be used. The same is true of the First Amendment, which limits the kinds of laws Congress can be passed, the contexts in which violent enforcement can be used. Without violent enforcement as the default position there would be no need to limit its use.
The Constitution’s requirements, like all laws, are enforced by violence. When it guarantees “a Republican Form of Government” it’s your ruling class promising to violently prevent you from living in a direct democracy which, as Madison warned, would lead to the elimination of private property rights. And this isn’t just a historical curiosity. Preventing communism is still “the principle task of modern legislation.” Enforcement of laws that authorize violence to protect the property rights of landlords and employers and to prevent communist organization from emerging is still the primary function of police, and without constant police repression people tend to organize communally.
Homeless encampments are an excellent example. Oppressed, impoverished people band together to support one another. They can look out for each other and organize with their communities to survive, and even to thrive if allowed. This may sound utopian, but it’s not. Here in Los Angeles a few years ago homeless people and housed activist supporters managed to use some of the space created by the pandemic to build a thriving communist community in Echo Park. As the residents put it in a public statement, which is worth quoting in full:
A year has gone by in which housed and unhoused neighbors have worked together to create a beautiful and much lauded homeless run outdoor community at Echo Park Lake. We have built and share kitchens, hot showers, community garden, trash cleanup, a sense of security, safety, and stability, and healing for drug addiction and mental illness with our own pioneering forms of therapy in the absence of any help from the city government. This community has drawn widespread neighborhood and Los Angeles organizational support, including Street Watch LA, Ground Game LA, DSA LA, and LA CAN. We have also received media coverage from NPR, the LA Times, and Knock LA. As was reported in the LA Times, two weeks ago local councilman Mitch O’Farrell in conjunction with LAPD declared their plan to forcibly displace up to fifty plus tent dwellers of Echo Park Lake as soon as possible without providing an adequate alternative.
The following is the statement of the Echo Park Tent Community:
For the past year or at least ever since Covid hit we’ve been left alone. Worse, we’ve been intentionally deprived of our basic needs like when the city cut off street lights and water fountains, but only on the “homeless” side of the park. Or when they decided to no longer throw away “homeless” trash, their words not ours.
The point is, we’ve had nothing but each other this past year and it’s honestly been a relief. The biggest pandemic in years actually turned out to be a blessing for us. Without the constant LAPD and city harassment uprooting our lives we’ve been able to grow. To come together as a community, not just unhoused but housed as well and work together for the mutual aid and benefit of each other.
Greater than that, we’ve gotten together as a community, unhoused with housed and did things together outside the context of charity or pity. We did things together for the sake of doing things together, as one community not separated by labels. Together we’ve been able to see and enjoy each others’ common humanity in a way the city, with its lens of economy never could.
So to sum it up: to Mitch O’Farrell, our demand is simply this; please continue to leave us alone, or stand with us. Ignore us as if we didn’t exist, much like you’ve been doing, and enjoy your corruption and greed, or come out and stand with us. Stand in solidarity with all of your constituents, not just those with money and housing. And watch as We make sure District 13 becomes a beacon of light for the world. Reshaping and reimagining what it means to be a community of people living together.
This isn’t a fantasy. I was here, and I saw it working. The problem didn’t lie with the communism but with the inevitable police repression, which involved hundreds of cops. This would be every encampment if not for police violence. The amount of money the government spends on clearing encampments shows that they know quite well that communism works. Why else go to such lengths to prevent it? And again, it’s not just encampments but the entire web of laws which criminalize sharing and cooperation. Zoning codes prevent unrelated people from sharing homes, giving away food in public is often illegal. Letting homeless people sleep in churches is a crime. The list goes on and on.
And laws don’t enforce themselves. As I said, all of these laws require massive expenditures on police, on courts, on legislation, on public relations to cover up the disgust that most people feel for their violent enforcement, and so on. If communism doesn’t work why has the ruling class spent hundreds of years and untold zillions of dollars preventing it? The fact is that not only does communism work just fine, but most people are sympathetic with it. The people it threatens know this quite well, as shown by their diligence in repressing it. Forms of human organization that don’t work don’t need to be prevented, they don’t ever arise, or are abandoned quickly. Communism works, just ask your bosses.
- This essay is inspired by this mastodon post, but the sentiment is ubiquitous.
- Not just the United States, of course, but at least since the invention of capitalism about 500 years ago.
https://chez-risk.in/2024/08/11/communism-works-just-ask-your-bosses/
#1stAmendment #4thAmendment #5thAmendment #Communism #DirectDemocracy #EchoPark #Federalist10 #Homelessness #JamesMadison #RepresentativeDemocracy #RepublicanFormOfGovernment #StateViolence #USConstitution #USConstitutionArticleIV
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A DC appeals court agreed yesterday to block a #subpoena to #JeffClark from bar investigators seeking to #sanction him for his actions in 2020. The court said it violated his #5thAmendment protections.
#Trump #ElectionInterference #law #legal
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/26/jeff-clark-subpoena-trump-bar-investigation-00143469
