When is a Pile a Pile?
A philosophical construct, the sorites paradox, asks this simple question. Take a heap of sand. Remove grains one by one. At some point, the heap will no longer be a heap. But when? We can surely all agree that one grain of sand is not a heap. Most of us would agree 100 grains is not a heap. Is 300? 1,000? There are real consequences to how this paradox is resolved. There is even a related paradox, Zeno’s dichotomy paradox, which has huge ramifications for physics.
We have entire fields of science dedicated to categorization, namely taxonomy. What’s often overlooked in analyzing things like the sorites paradox or taxonomy is that categorizing things only exists for OUR benefit.
The universe does not care if a group of sand grains is a heap or not, just as the universe does not care if an organism is a protist or a fungus. We can and do draw inferences based on what kingdom an organism belongs to, but there is no real world restriction.
This is a newsletter about Donald Trump.
The warnings about what a second Trump term would look like are increasingly being proven accurate. Conservatives object to words like “dictator,” “despot,” “oligarchy,” “kakistocracy,” etc…
I have seen many debates over whether we are under a dictatorship yet. Highly technical ones involve specific criteria which have not been met. Others are more nebulous.
So is America there yet? Have we transitioned from the shining city on a hill into a dictatorship?
I have an answer to those questions. And just like when sand becomes a heap, it does not matter. These are just words we used to describe things. What actually matters is the actions being taken.
And those actions show every concern his opponents have had about Donald Trump for a decade have been absolutely correct. Do we qualify as a dictatorship yet? The answer is meaningless. Let’s look at the actions themselves:
Eight days ago, the government contracted with a private prison company to open a detention facility for immigrants in Newark, NJ. New Jersey law expressly forbids such facilities.
The facility also does not appear to have obtained multiple permits required for opening. Importantly, another federal law explicitly grants access to such facilities by members of Congress when proper notice is given.
Today several members of Congress showed up to inspect the facility. They were kept in a waiting area for 90 minutes and never allowed in. They had given the required notice. The mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, was there investigating the lack of permits.
Federal agents showed up and did what they do best - manhandling Congressional members who had the legal right to be there and arresting Mayor Baraka. Alina Habba, previously Trump’s personal lawyer, stated the mayor was arrested for trespassing. While we’re waiting on confirmation of this, he does not appear to have been IN the facility and was “trespassing” in a publicly accessible space. DHS has published a press release saying the congressional representatives there “broke in” to the facility. This is an outright lie.
Donald Trump’s government arrested the mayor of New Jersey’s largest city as the mayor was investigating a private detention facility which is operating illegally. The government then lied about Congressmen breaking into the facility. Propaganda like this has existed in many governments throughout history. You would not want to live in any of them.
EDIT: I don’t usually update these but since publishing we learned that the mayor was there to serve the facility with a summons. Their certificate of occupancy is not valid and they have not been allowing health or fire inspectors into the building. This is NOT federal land.
Stephen Miller today said the Trump administration is considering suspending habeas corpus rights for immigrants. I dislike the use of the Latin legal term here as most people will not be familiar with it. Simply put, habeas rights mean the government cannot simply arrest and imprison you without justifying your detention. There is a circumstance where this right may be suspended in the United States - war. Lincoln, Grant, and FDR all used it during wartime. George W. Bush tried to in reference to the “war” on terror but was rejected by the courts.
Many of the actions Trump has taken this year have been allowed only in times of war. By necessity, they have argued that immigration constitutes an “invasion” and therefore the president can use the multitude of war powers he has. This idea is ludicrous and has been rejected by the courts over and over. It will be again here if tested, but you should be ALARMED that the White House is saying they want the power to arrest anyone they want, ship them to foreign prisons, and remove the ability for the courts to question any part of this process.
It is nearly a cliche at this point, but if they have the power to do this to an immigrant, they have the power to do this to anyone.
Last time I covered some of the actions Trump was taking against free speech by immigrants, but those tendencies are not confined to immigrants.
Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested because she let an immigrant in her court leave the room by a door other than the one federal officials wanted him to use. He was still arrested IN the building. The agents only had an administrative warrant allowing them to arrest the man. The judge had no legal or ethical obligation to assist them and judges are given a great deal of leeway in how they conduct their courtroom. She was not arrested for any laws she broke. She was arrested as part of this administration’s central message about immigration - assist us or face our wrath.
Yesterday, the head librarian at the Library of Congress was fired. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said this was because of “DEI” issues and stocking the library with books that are inappropriate for children. Leavitt, like most in this administration, has absolutely no idea what she is talking about. The contents of the Library of Congress are not curated. No one decided which books to include because ALL books published in the United States are archived there. Unaccompanied children are also not allowed in the building. Nor is the Library of Congress a lending library. You can’t go there to check out books. It’s a research archive.
Donald Trump is doing exactly what we warned he would do - using the power of the government to harass, intimidate, and even arrest anyone who would dare challenge his power. He is shutting down numerous agencies and programs which are legally mandated by Congress. Even his tariffs are predicated on an international emergency which does not exist. His ridiculous war against “DEI” now includes foreign governments eliminating DEI programs legally required by their laws.
Does this make us a dictatorship? I don’t know. And it doesn’t matter. We have to keep fighting him whenever we can.
And those fights are winning.
Rümeysa Öztürk was released today by a judge’s order. Mayor Baraka was released from custody while I was writing this. Hundreds showed up to protest his detention. Expect him to win his case. He has lost numerous cases regarding firings and defunding of programs. He is losing on immigration cases left and right.
I do not know how this ends. But I know how it needed to begin. And while a great many things need to be better, especially from elected Democrats, we are showing that we are not going to accept what he wants to do to our country.
If we end up losing, at least we fought him. Keep it up.
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