Latest news with #McCarthyism
Miami Herald
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Trump inherited a mess from Biden, so why so much controversy over Alligator Alcatraz?
Immigration facility Why do we have a red hot controversy over the detention facility known as Alligator Alcatraz? Because the Trump administration is attempting to deport illegal immigrants. The administration inherited a huge number of illegal immigrants the day Trump took office. Apparently, there are not enough detention facilities. If Democrats oppose this effort, why not go to Congress and try to pass a bill to forbid all deportations? Does Miami-Dade County Mayor Cava have experience inspecting jails? Gary Sisler, Cutler Bay Indoctrination? Insane Miami Herald reporter Garrett Shanley's July 14 story, 'Florida spends $4 million on new 'ideology-free' college accreditor,' suggests a return to McCarthyism, a period of indoctrination as hinted to by President Trump who said that his 'secret weapon' — using accreditation — 'will force schools to adapt policies favored by conservatives.' Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke of liberal cartels, Juntas and woke, ideological-laden words used in indoctrination. Threatening academic freedom, replacing it with 'policies favored by conservatives' is indoctrination. Liberalism is a universal mosaic of neutral principles like constitutional, scientific and legal processes, including human rights. Science demands facts to counter superstition. Human rights, if not applied, become a farce. Courts without due process allow the powerful to put a finger on the scales of justice. The U.S. Constitution, unenforced, becomes a door mat. Liberalism does not take sides. It requires accuracy when making accusations. Its legal procedures prevent miscarriages of justice by insuring the protection of due process. Its belief in evidence uproots superstitions and unmasks conspiracy theories. Its support for human and civil rights is the bedrock of democracy. Liberalism advocates for free markets, well-regulated, with progressive taxation, just as Adam Smith, the father of liberal capitalism, suggested. Advocating Floridians to pay $4 million to be indoctrinated is not conservative; it is madness. Phil Beasley, Plantation Playhouse drama The Coconut Grove Playhouse is not being 'revived.' It is being dismantled slowly, strategically and under the false branding of cultural renewal. What Bari Newport describes in her July 3 Miami Herald op-ed, 'Why the Coconut Grove Playhouse project is a revival, not a demolition,' is not a bold investment in Miami's future. It is an underwhelming compromise dressed up as progress. A historic 1,100-seat landmark, capable of hosting national touring acts and regional collaborations, is being reduced to a 300-seat boutique venue the public never requested nor was it proven to be financially viable. The community was promised restoration. What they have received instead is selective demolition, missed deadlines and a decade of delay from the agencies entrusted with stewardship. Florida owns this land and Miami-Dade County was granted a lease with a clear purpose: restore the property as a public theater, with timely progress and proper upkeep. While the county may have won its case in a Miami-Dade courtroom, the real legal question lies with the state. Whether a breach of lease justifies taking the property back is now supported by mounting evidence. State officials, including those from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Division of Historical Resources, have documented troubling violations, including the penetration of the historic façade through its original window openings. This is a clear indication that the project has veered far from preservation. World-class performances or internationally acclaimed talent will never be attracted to a glorified black-box theater with 300 seats. It is not viable, not visionary and not what Miami deserves. If this were truly about artistic excellence, we would be having an open conversation about programming, access and impact, not sneaking asbestos abatement contracts through without public review, or clearing parking lots in the middle of legal limbo. Where are the public notices? Where is the transparency? Why were key architectural voices and preservation experts excluded? Will voters allow the county to get away with it? Will the state intervene before it is too late? This plan is being championed by insiders, while so many of the most respected voices in American theater, including Edward Albee, Zev Buffman, Arva Parks, Vic Meyrich, Howard Rogut and countless local artists and residents oppose it outright. They do not oppose progress — they oppose erasure. They know the economic and artistic future of this space depends on a real stage, real scale and real integrity. This is not about politics; it is about accountability. Miami-Dade residents and Floridians deserve better than this. If the county cannot meet the terms of its lease — terms it agreed to and obligations it ignored — then the state has a duty to step in. The Playhouse deserves its legacy and the people deserve the truth. Fabián Basabe, representative, Florida House of Representatives, Tallahassee Quick build One thing that is particularly striking about Alligator Alcatraz is the speed at which it was constructed. It reminds me of the incredible pace at which the Sanibel Causeway was repaired after Hurricane Ian in 2022. If only the governor could take over the small bridge project that has been taking forever to complete between Southwest 70th and 72nd avenues along 136th street, a main thoroughfare. I suspect he could have had it done for far less cost, with the prefabricated components trucked to the site in less than two months, in view of the shortness of the span. Robert E. Panoff, Pinecrest Real patriots In the May 23 Miami Herald op-ed, 'Florida ranks low on patriotism? I don't believe it,' writer Mary Anna Mancuso suggested Republicans are more patriotic than Democrats. I am a reformed Reagan Republican and a patriot who, to borrow the famous saying, 'I didn't leave the Republican Party, it left me.' Patriots speak up against stupidity, injustice, hate, violence, bigotry and misogyny. We embrace protesting as our right to free speech. We don't ban books. We don't prevent others from choosing their sexual orientation or partner. Patriotism is not owned by any party. We are liberals, moderates, conservatives, Republicans, independents, Democrats and those slowly waking up politically who have never protested before. We won't stay silent when seeing due process ignored and people arrested based on their appearance or tattoos. We don't need to wave flags, but our flag waves on our lawns with signage stating, 'Protect Democracy.' We marched proudly in the 'No Kings' protest. I do not recognize today's Republican Party, which is filled with too many haters waving MAGA hats and flags and deriding those who disagree with suppressive policies. Nope. The party has no right to claim itself as 'more patriotic' than the rest of us. John and Debbie Dolson, Coconut Grove Worthy sacrifice Every time President Trump wants to show the world how powerful he is by imposing or increasing tariffs, he is really just taxing the American people. His presidency's two biggest legislative accomplishments were giving the ultra rich large tax breaks, paid for by increasing the national debt for future generations. His loyal legions accept this economic assisted suicide as the price for persecuting the LGBTQ community, controlling women's bodies and putting people of color in their place. If you ask what would Jesus do, perhaps he would seek residency in Canada, Mexico, or anywhere ICE agents don't profile dark-skinned middle easterners. Roberto Romero, Snellville, GA Fumble or Hail Mary? Former Miami Dolphins quarterback Teddy Bridgewater has been suspended from his head football coaching position at Miami Northwestern, his high school alma mater, for providing 'impermissible benefits' to his players. These benefits included paying for Uber rides, physical therapy, pregame meals, recovery help, field paint and more. If that's true, Bridgewater should be celebrated, not suspended. Paul Bacon, Hallandale Beach
Atlantic
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Atlantic
The Federal Bureau of Paranoia
Working in government, especially in national defense or the intelligence community, can be an unsettling business. You must give up a few of your rights and a lot of your privacy in order to remain a trustworthy public servant. The higher your level of clearance to access sensitive information, the more privacy you cede—and sometimes, as those of us who have been through the process can affirm, you can find yourself with an investigator from your agency's security office, explaining the embarrassing details of your finances or your emotional stability, and even answering some squirm-inducing questions about your love life. That's part of the job, and federal employees submit to it in order to keep America safe. What isn't part of the job is a McCarthyist political-loyalty requirement, enforced with polygraphs and internal snooping. But FBI Director Kash Patel and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard have apparently decided that hunting down politically unreliable members of America's intelligence and law-enforcement communities is more important than catching enemy spies, terrorists, or bank robbers. Indeed, to call what Patel and Gabbard are doing 'McCarthyism' is to make too grandiose a comparison. Tail Gunner Joe, a thoroughly reprehensible opportunist, claimed that he was rooting out Communists loyal to Moscow who were hidden in the U.S. government. Patel and Gabbard, meanwhile, don't seem very worried about foreign influences, especially now that President Donald Trump treats the Kremlin like an ally, and they're not looking for enemy agents. They just want to know who's talking smack behind their back. Gabbard, according to The Washington Post, has 'expressed a desire to gain access to emails and chat logs of the largest U.S. spy agencies with the aim of using artificial intelligence tools to ferret out what the administration deems as efforts to undermine its agenda.' In other words, Gabbard is threatening to endanger the careers of loyal intelligence officers by asking an AI if any of them aren't fully on board with the MAGA cause. She has created a team within her office with the anodyne name of the 'Director's Initiatives Group,' that will collect large amounts of data from across 18 different agencies and run them through AI tools to see if anyone is engaging in 'weaponization' of intelligence. This is a flatly ridiculous, and extremely dangerous, idea. For one thing, separate agencies rely on separate systems and different levels of classification precisely to keep data compartmentalized and thus to stop an enemy from ever getting all the pieces of any intelligence puzzle all at once. These various agencies limit discussions, even within their own walls, to small groups who are working from shared context and must be able to speak and argue candidly. Each part of the intelligence community shares information with other organizations only as needed in order to bring in more expertise or to gain better insight across agencies. In other words, the entire system is set up exactly to prevent someone from doing what Gabbard wants to do: gather lots of material from many agencies, dump it all in the same hopper, and then let people (or an AI) trawl through it looking for anything that seems interesting. Perhaps in a national emergency, such as a massive data breach or the discovery of a highly destructive espionage operation, a full-spectrum search might make some sense, especially if it were conducted by experienced professionals who knew what they were looking for. Instead, Gabbard just wants to see if anyone is slagging the president's agenda. I can almost guarantee that in agencies with thousands of people, someone has written an unwise email expressing bewilderment or disagreement or anger with the president's policies. It happens under every commander in chief; I saw many during my years working for the Defense Department. What does Gabbard intend to do if she finds such emails? Fire some veteran spies and analysts, corrode morale, and potentially create more security risks, just because someone griped about Ukraine or the One Big Beautiful Bill? Gabbard's efforts, however, look almost noble next to the frantic paranoia that seems to have overtaken the office of FBI Director Kash Patel, who is subjecting FBI personnel to the humiliation of being attached to a lie detector just to see if they've said something bad not about MAGA or Trump, but about him, personally. 'In interviews and polygraph tests,' according to The New York Times, the FBI has asked senior employees whether they have said anything negative about Mr. Patel.' In particular, sources told the Times, Patel wants to know who leaked the director's request to be issued a service weapon, which is not something usually given to personnel who are not trained FBI agents. Ironically, polygraphs probably won't help Patel much. Polygraph machines, despite the lore, don't really detect lies. They detect stress, which is why honest but nervous people sometimes fail their examinations, while smooth, sociopathic liars pass them. Some agencies routinely require such tests, and their efficacy is debatable. (Their results are not usually admissible as evidence in U.S. courts.) Perhaps in the right hands, they could be one of many tools to root out someone who may be hiding something that could injure American national security. Federal-clearance holders accept their use as routine, if unpleasant. But to be strapped into a chair that measures your heartbeat and your breathing and other biological data, told that your answers could end your career, and then asked if you've ever said something bad about the boss—well, that's almost certainly going to elicit a stress reaction from just about anyone, even the most above-board agents and personnel. Patel's snippy anger is likely driven by a suspicion that real FBI agents are laughing at him behind his back. But his solution is more than just egocentric lashing out; it's paranoid authoritarianism. Sending loyalists out to hunt for the regime's critics within the secret services is old-style KGB stuff. All the FBI needs now to complete a scene from, say, The Death of Stalin, is for Patel to run down the hallways shouting, 'I have documents on all of you!' Gabbard, Patel, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth were always the unholy trinity of utterly unqualified nominees, people put up for their jobs primarily because Trump and his advisers knew that they would be completely pliant and obsequious, that nominating them would horrify official Washington, and that Senate Republicans would have to bend their collective knee by confirming them. But while Gabbard is thumbing through emails and posts, and Patel is examining heart rhythms to see who's been rolling their eyes at him, America is in peril. Real spies are out there trying to steal America's secrets; real terrorists, foreign and domestic, are plotting the deaths of American citizens. Kidnappers, gang members, organized-crime rings—they're all out there waiting to be caught.
Bloomberg
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
How US Universities Became So Vulnerable to Government Threats
As Donald Trump's administration slashes and burns its way across the nation's top campuses, American higher education faces the most serious crisis in its existence. During earlier episodes of political repression such as McCarthyism, academia's main casualties tended to be the careers of individual professors whose political activities displeased the powers-that-be. The institutions that fired and blacklisted those faculty members emerged from the witch hunt largely intact. Now, the entire academic world is a target. Trump is even wielding the government's most powerful weapon by threatening to withdraw federal funding from the whole sector. No school is immune. From community colleges and for-profit institutions to the Ivy League and the Big Ten, the loss of Washington's dollars would decimate or seriously damage most colleges and universities. Without that money — primarily for scientific research and student aid — higher education would be unlikely to survive in its current form. Even the MAGA juggernaut's other weapons, like banning foreign students or withdrawing accreditation, have financial consequences.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
US coming too close to what it's supposed to oppose — extremism: Cuomo
The many controversies, conflicts and acts of extremism occurring are raising the temperature and being reflected across America. Chris Cuomo dives into how the optics of ICE roundups and the demonizing of migrants have contributed to the issue of immigration also falling victim to extremism. Now, something President Trump said may signal a shift in how he handles his immigration mission going forward. Cuomo explores statistics on migrants and the financial contribution they make to the U.S. through taxes, 'McCarthyism' and Sen. Alex Padilla's removal from a press conference. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump's DHS Launches Hotline to Rat Out 'Foreign Invaders' as Immigration Raids Continue
Trump's DHS Launches Hotline to Rat Out 'Foreign Invaders' as Immigration Raids Continue originally appeared on L.A. Mag. The Trump Administration is ramping up its controversial immigration raids by releasing a flyer that urges Americans to "help your country and yourself" by reporting what the Department of Homeland Security calls "foreign invaders" to a new hotline. The flyer, which is reminiscent of former Vice Presidential candidate Tim Waltz push for neighbors to report others for violating Minnesota's COVID-19 lockdowns, utilized imagery often associated with McCarthyism propaganda released during the Cold War. At the time, Americans were urged to report anyone they suspected of having communist leanings, which ensnared many Hollywood actors who landed on a blacklist that tore through the industry in the 1940s into the 1950s. Eva Barrios, 28, of Echo Park, when shown the poster while walking down Sunset Boulevard, called it "terrifying." She says she supports deporting dangerous aliens, but she now believes the President is taking immigration actions too far. "We are going to turn in someone's nanny? Or the guy mowing the lawn? That poster is gross." The DHS hotline was released as federal officials continue raids across Southern California. Last month, Stephen Miller, Trump's White House deputy chief of staff, told Fox News he has instructed ICE to arrest 3,000 people a day, a major increase in enforcement. Operations, according to ICE media releases, are happening across the nation. Surprise raids in Los Angeles have led to six straight days of unrest and hundreds of arrests. Most recently, footage emerged of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement action on farms in the agricultural centers of Kern County, Tulare County, and Kings County located north of Bakersfield. It remains unclear exactly how many undocumented immigrants have been taken into custody. This story was originally reported by L.A. Mag on Jun 11, 2025, where it first appeared.
