Comment on US looks at ways to prevent spying on NSA spying

Trump’s mass deportation agenda is already taking shape—for a second time—in coastal Oregon. A racist letter reportedly circulating through Lincoln County, which has a population of about 50,000 people and is located on the state’s western coast, encourages residents to surveil and report “brown illegals…who you suspect are here in our country on an illegal basis” to the Department of Homeland Security. The letter implores white locals to help facilitate “the largest round-up of brown illegals in our history,” referring to Trump’s pledge to begin mass deportations of approximately 11 million people, and promises white residents a chance to seize the victims’ homes. In starkly racist language, it proceeds to outline a dystopian vision for surveillance of people of color everywhere from churches to schools and grocery stores: Sit in your church’s parking lot and write down the license plate [number] of brown folks.

WASHINGTON — After days of threats and demands, Donald Trump had little to show for it once lawmakers passed a budget deal in the early hours of Saturday, narrowly averting a pre-Christmas government shutdown. The president-elect successfully pushed House Republicans to jettison some spending, but he failed to achieve his central goal of raising the debt limit.

President Joe Biden has officially surpassed president-elect Donald Trump’s record of judicial appointed to federal courts—by one single judge. On Friday, the Senate Judiciary Committee, tasked with carrying out the confirmations of Biden’s appointees, announced that it had confirmed Biden’s 235th judge—one more than Trump during his term in office, when he blitzed the courts with white, male, right-wing judicial activists.

Most Americans aren’t impressed and aren’t interested in changing their lives and mores to accommodate people they recognize as mentally ill.

A satirical awards ceremony for Democrats with the best "schtick."

A horrible story out of New York City highlights that law enforcement is no longer serious about catching bad guys. (UPDATE: And we need to deport illegal aliens.)