Trumpists call the anti-Tesla protests "terrorist" to take away donation platforms

Martina Fern, Senior Director of Development for American Atheists, writes in an email that the organization sent today:

"Elon Musk, who spent over a quarter of a billion dollars to help elect President Trump, expressed his support for federal investigations into fundraising platform ActBlue, claiming it’s part of a “left-wing NGO cabal” organizing protests of Tesla. He even called the protests “terrorist activity.”

Speaker Mike Johnson and several Republican lawmakers have been pushing for a congressional investigation into ActBlue since last December. More recently, the Treasury Secretary has been urged to look into the fundraising platform for “allegations of the provision of… payment processing for terror-linked organizations and nonprofits.” Senator Ted Cruz has also suggested ActBlue might be held criminally liable and has threatened another private tech company that provides services to nonprofits, Bonterra, with investigations."

Fern adds that the ActBlue and Bonterra platforms, both of which American Atheists uses, "are being threatened precisely because they provide the infrastructure necessary for nonprofit organizations like ours to operate." If Trump's orbit can say that one left-leaning cause is a "terrorist" cause, then they have a pretext to take down the large donation platforms that fund a broad spectrum of left-leaning causes.

One core political function of calling someone a terrorist is that, in the United States as well as other places, you can seek to have the government shut them down on the basis of you having called them that. I wrote: Why Was Palestinian Student Leader Mahmoud Khalil Detained?: The meaning of ‘shalom’ I know is ‘peace.’ A political arrest isn’t peaceful. Tucker Lieberman, Mar 12, 2025

the meaning of "terrorism" isnt being changed or watered down, it never really meant anything other than "enemy of the state" when used in dissent to begin with and who it can and cant be applied to has always shifted

— maia arson crimew 🏴 (@crimew.gay) March 22, 2025 at 6:32 PM

Photo: Smug January 6er. So much winning.

Three trans songs (2 on Instagram, 1 on YouTube) — enjoy!

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Detention of Mahmoud Khalil

I wrote:
Tucker Lieberman, Why Was Palestinian Student Leader Mahmoud Khalil Detained? The meaning of ‘shalom’ I know is ‘peace.’ A political arrest isn’t peaceful. Medium, Mar 12, 2025

Here's follow-up info over the past week:

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They arrested another Palestinian student of Columbia, Leqaa Kordia, as well as an Indian one, Ranjani Srinivasan. They accused Ranjani of ‘supporting Hammas’ (ICE misspelled Hamas). www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/...

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— Elia Ayoub إيليا أيوب (@ayoub.bsky.social) March 14, 2025 at 3:47 PM

“Jewish leaders need to ask themselves if they’re willing to allow our community to be used in this way to dismantle democratic norms,” said Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights. “If the answer is no, their condemnation of this arrest should be loud and swift.”

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— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan.bsky.social) March 14, 2025 at 6:43 AM

The Disappearance of Mahmoud Khalil: Civil rights attorney Edward Ahmed Mitchell and journalist Meghnad Bose discuss the profound implications Khalil’s case raises for free speech and due process. The Intercept Briefing (📢 podcast), March 13 2025

Why Trump Is So Desperate to Keep Mahmoud Khalil in Louisiana: Government lawyers would be happy to avoid a legal precedent set in the case of Ravi Ragbir during the first Trump administration. Shawn Musgrave, The Intercept, March 14 2025

If pro-Palestinian or anti-Israeli protests is considered a form of terrorism, then anti-Musk protests will be considered terrorism too. Trump has said so.

Scoop: State Dept. to use AI to revoke visas of foreign students who appear "pro-Hamas", Marc Caputo, Axios, Mar 6, 2025

Khalil Gibran Muhammad on LinkedIn: three federal agencies sent a letter to Columbia University that lays out conditions for future federal funds.

A Love Letter to the Student Movement Repression of the Palestine movement is now here, so what must be done? Four practical steps for the next phase. Carrie Zaremba, In These Times, March 17, 2025

Meanwhile over on the other place, rightwing free speech warriors (this guy is a former DeSantis campaign staffer) are calling for me to be denaturalized and deported because they don’t like my political speech. This is what fascism and racism looks like, folks.

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— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan.bsky.social) March 16, 2025 at 4:21 PM

"Hundreds of Jewish professors, scholars and students have signed a letter condemning the Trump administration for canceling $400 million in federal funding to Columbia University and threatening other universities."
— Matt Shuham, Hundreds Of Jewish Academics Condemn Trump Attacks On Universities: “The knock-on effects of this will be catastrophic,” one co-author told HuffPost. HuffPost, Mar 19, 2025

2,500 Jewish Academics Call Out Trump: Over 2,500 Jewish academics and students denounce Trump for cynical claims of antisemitism. Arturo Dominguez, Medium, March 20, 2025

BREAKING: Judge Furman transfers Mahmoud Khalil’s habeas case to New Jersey, where he was when the petition was filed, rejecting government requests to dismiss the petition or transfer it to Louisiana, where he is now. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

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— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner.bsky.social) March 19, 2025 at 9:01 AM

My statement on being denied tenure at the Medill School of Journalism drive.google.com/file/d/1BBBI...

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— Steven W. Thrasher is here to protect students (@thrasherxy.bsky.social) March 20, 2025 at 11:10 AM

Columbia University Caves After Threats From Trump Columbia University agreed to implement a suite of policy changes Friday, including overhauling its rules for protests. AP, HuffPost, Mar 21, 2025

Former Columbia law professor @katherinefranke.bsky.social says the Trump administration held the school ransom by freezing $400 million in funds and demanding drastic changes on campus. "Columbia considered it and did more than what the ransom note demanded, for which it got nothing in return."

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— Democracy Now! (@democracynow.org) March 24, 2025 at 7:58 AM

Now this is happening

They are arresting people on the streets, terminating their visas, and disappearing them for writing things they disagree with. This is where we are. Two months in. Right now. If you think they won’t begin coming after citizens soon, you are mistaken.

— Clint Smith (@clintsmithiii.bsky.social) March 27, 2025 at 7:03 AM

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— Congressman Stephen F. Lynch (@lynch.house.gov) March 26, 2025 at 9:32 PM

University Of Alabama Student Detained By Federal Immigration Agents. The Trump administration is continuing to target noncitizen university students. Marita Vlachou, HuffPost, Mar 27, 2025

The tactics ICE is using--thugs in plain clothes kidnapping people simply for their political views--these tactics were developed by the US and spread across the world to hunt down Leftists from Latin America to Indonesia. They've also been used locally for decades to terrorize Black communities.

— Eman Abdelhadi (@emanabdelhadi.bsky.social) March 27, 2025 at 11:45 AM

Khalil was able to dictate an essay:

"Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil rebuked what he called the school’s “repression playbook” that has opened the gates for higher education and the federal government to target dissent on campus and abduct students like him for their pro-Palestinian advocacy.

Khalil, a green card holder married to a U.S. citizen, was taken by federal immigration agents on March 8 for his role in helping lead last year’s antiwar protests on Columbia’s campus. While his court case plays out in New Jersey, Khalil remains held without charge in a Louisiana detention center — where he dictated to his attorney a searing op-ed for the Columbia Spectator that published Friday [April 4]."

— Sanjana Karanth, Mahmoud Khalil Rebukes Columbia For Targeting Dissent With 'Repression Playbook', HuffPost, April 6, 2025

US Is Quietly Revoking Student Visas From Harvard to Stanford, Alicia A. Caldwell, Yahoo Finance, April 7, 2025

The Fourth Circuit is famously succinct. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

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— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw.bsky.social) April 7, 2025 at 10:59 AM

Sec. of State Marco Rubio has written in a memo that Mahmoud Khalil is subject to deportation because “the alien's past, current, or expected beliefs” have “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.” His position is potential thoughts are grounds for deportation

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— Nathan Kalman-Lamb (@nkalamb.bsky.social) April 10, 2025 at 3:24 PM

Pressed for evidence against Mahmoud Khalil, government cites its power to deport people for beliefs, Jake Offenhartz, AP, April 10, 2025

Judge Rules That Columbia University Activist Mahmoud Khalil Can Be Deported: The Trump administration argued that the legal U.S. resident posed a national security risk because of his involvement in protests, even as it admitted his conduct didn't break any laws. Associated Press, Apr 11, 2025

Another rabbis' letter--this from over 100 Chicago-area rabbis, proud to be one--protesting the horrors being carried out these days in the name of "combating antisemitism." Published in the Trib today. Full list of signatories in the second skeet. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/04/22/l...

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— Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg (@theradr.bsky.social) April 22, 2025 at 10:59 AM

Deborah Lipstadt, Biden’s former antisemitism envoy, claims that Trump is protecting democracy by targeting student protestors. I’m losing my mind.

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— Elad Nehorai (@eladn.bsky.social) April 22, 2025 at 6:02 PM

New court filing tonight shows that Yunseo Chung, a Columbia student who participated in pro-Palestine protests, was named alongside Mahmoud Khalil in Secretary Rubio's letter terminating their status as legal permanent residents. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

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— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney.bsky.social) May 13, 2025 at 8:51 PM

Pro-Palestine International Students Have Won in Court. Why Hasn’t Mahmoud Khalil Won His Freedom?: One of Trump’s tricks is to send people to Louisiana where they get harsher treatment. Mahmoud Khalil is pointing out the iniquity of it. Jonah Valdez, The Intercept, February 26 2026

We're in the hottest years on record

“That’s never happened before.”

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— Harvey J. Miller (@mobileharv.bsky.social) March 19, 2025 at 4:11 AM

More climate trivia -- here is a graph showing the single hottest day of each year, 1940 - 2024. The only two years breaking 17.0°C are 2023 and 2024, with 2024 the hottest of them all. There appears to be a trend.

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— Prof. Eliot Jacobson (@climatecasino.net) November 22, 2024 at 9:12 AM

2023 Was One Of The Coldest Years Of The Rest Of Your Life Three global assessments confirm last year was by far the hottest in recorded history. “We’re frankly astonished,” one scientist said of the findings. Chris D'Angelo, HuffPost, Jan 12, 2024

The planet just saw its hottest day on record. Angela Fritz, CNN, July 23, 2024

This week’s record-breaking global temperatures are likely highest in ‘at least 100,000 years’, Angela Fritz and Laura Paddison, CNN, July 7, 2023

‘Exceptional’ warming: January temperatures 2.2 degrees higher than average in Europe, Laura Paddison, CNN, February 10, 2023

Last month was the hottest September ever, breaking last year’s record, Rob Picheta, CNN, October 7, 2020

"Climate change is here. We are seeing event classes [today] that were forecast in #climate models for the 2050s, 2060s, and 2070s.” - @oceanterra.org #FasterThanExpected #ClimateEmergency

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— Dr. Aaron Thierry (@thierryaaron.bsky.social) January 18, 2026 at 1:51 AM

This weird winter was one of the warmest — and coldest — on record. It’s a glimpse of our future Andrew Freeman, CNN, March 7, 2026

Puppygirl hackers

NEW: A group known as the 'puppygirl hacker polycule' has leaked thousands of police training & policy manuals from departments across the country www.dailydot.com/debug/lexipo...

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— Mikael Thalen (@mikaelthalen.bsky.social) February 11, 2025 at 10:10 AM

The thousands of leaked files come from Lexipol, a company that develops policy & training manuals for first responders. "We took matters into our own paws,” a member of the puppygirl hacker polycule told the Daily Dot. www.dailydot.com/debug/lexipo...

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— Mikael Thalen (@mikaelthalen.bsky.social) February 11, 2025 at 10:28 AM

As always, puppygirls, furries, and everyone else can send me leaks & story tips via Signal signal.me#eu/HNer9mVMN...

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— Mikael Thalen (@mikaelthalen.bsky.social) February 11, 2025 at 6:51 PM

U.S. Institute of Peace v. DOGE - hearing today

Worth noting that one of the named defendants in this suit is Jacob Altik, a 2021 University of Michigan Law graduate who has been selected to clerk for Justice Gorsuch starting *later this year.*

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— Anna Bower (@annabower.bsky.social) March 19, 2025 at 9:46 AM

In 90 minutes, there will be a hearing. The toll-free call-in line is 833-990-9400 - Meeting ID 491822013.

2 pm today. There is a call-in line.

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— Anna Bower (@annabower.bsky.social) March 19, 2025 at 10:01 AM

Context:

"U.S. Institute Of Peace Sues Trump Administration Over Firings, DOGE Takeover. The lawsuit describes the lengths that institute staff resorted to, including calling the police, to keep DOGE staffers out." Thalia Beaty, AP, HuffPost, Mar 19, 2025

We won our FOIA lawsuit for body cam footage of DOGE raid on US Institute of Peace: The judge ruled DC Metropolitan Police must share all un-redacted footage from the March 2025 raid. Marisa Kabas, The Handbasket, February 18, 2026

Police body cam footage shows DOGE knew Institute of Peace was private property during raid Footage obtained by The Handbasket’s lawsuit shows a hostile takeover on March 17, 2025. Marisa Kabas, The Handbasket, March 06, 2026

State Dept. staff—including Noem—will move into Institute of Peace building despite ongoing legal dispute After the 2025 DOGE raid, a court ruling on ownership of the building remains in limbo, Marisa Kabas, The Hnadbasket, March 27, 2026

Abortion in Texas: Articles

Opinion Republicans’ hasty attacks on women show they were never pro-life Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post, July 17, 2022

Things to know about efforts to block people from crossing state lines for abortion Geoff Mulvihill | AP, Washington Post, November 10, 2023

Texas women who could not get abortions despite health risks take challenge to state's Supreme Court Paul J. Weber | AP, Washington Post, November 28, 2023

A pregnant Texas woman is asking a court to let her have an abortion under exceptions to state's ban Paul J. Weber | AP, Washington Post December 6, 2023

A pregnant Texas woman asked a court for permission to get an abortion, despite a ban. What's next?, Paul J. Weber | AP, Washington Post December 9, 2023

Texas woman who sought court permission for abortion leaves state for the procedure, attorneys say, Paul J. Weber and Jamie Stengle | AP December 11, 2023

What we know about the legal case of a Texas woman denied the right to an immediate abortion Geoff Mulvihill | AP, Washington Post, December 12, 2023

Opinion Think there’s an abortion exception for medical emergencies? Texas shows that’s a sham. By Ruth Marcus Associate editor, Washington Post, December 13, 2023

GOP candidates sidestep questions about Texas abortion case, Amy B Wang, Washington Post, Updated December 13, 2023

Some 2024 GOP hopefuls call for 'compassion' in Texas abortion case but don't say law should change, Meg Kinnard, Christine Fernando and Michelle L. Price | AP, Washington Post, December 13, 2023

What to know about abortion lawsuits being heard in US courts this week, Geoff Mulvihill | AP, December 14, 2023

AFTER ABORTION BAN, TEXAS TEEN BIRTH RATE RISES The increase reverses a 15-year trend. And unwanted pregnancies will rise, researchers predict. Lise Olsen, Texas Observer, January 30, 2024

A Texas Woman Died After The Hospital Said It Would Be A 'Crime' To Intervene In Her Miscarriage Josseli Barnica grieved the news as she lay in a Houston hospital bed on Sept. 3, 2021: The sibling she’d dreamt of giving her daughter would not survive this pregnancy. Cassandra Jaramillo and Kavitha Surana, ProPublica, Oct 30, 2024

The Supreme Court lets stand a decision barring emergency abortions that violate Texas ban

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— Phil Lewis (@phillewis.bsky.social) October 7, 2024 at 8:58 AM

New: Nevaeh Crain should be celebrating her birthday today. At 6 months pregnant, the Texas teen went to two ERs in 12 hours, returning home worse each time. On her third trip, a doctor insisted on 2 ultrasounds to “confirm fetal demise” before moving her to the ICU. Hours later, Nevaeh died.

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— Chris Morran (@themorrancave.bsky.social) November 1, 2024 at 5:12 AM

A new bill in Texas attempts to outlaw online speech surrounding abortion & shows how abortion battles are becoming tech policy battles 🧵 reason.com/2024/11/18/t...

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— Elizabeth Nolan Brown (@enbrown.bsky.social) November 18, 2024 at 3:47 PM

It appears that the person who ratted out this 20-year old Texas abortion patient to the cops was the man who impregnated her, which leads me to my sad but essential reminder: if you are having an abortion in a ban state, tell as few people as possible, and importantly, do not tell your boyfriend.

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— Moira Donegan (@moiradonegan.bsky.social) December 17, 2024 at 1:30 PM

This is the moment for everyone in this country to learn that the decrease in birth rate is almost entirely from lowering teen pregnancies. So what they’re asking for is children to have more children.

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— Kaitlin Has Had Enough (@gothamgirlblue.com) January 25, 2025 at 4:04 PM

As somebody who grew up during the era in which there was a massive public push to reduce teen pregnancy, it’s absolutely wild to me to see people on Fox News now complaining that not enough teens are getting pregnant.

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— Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social) September 1, 2026 at 4:22 PM

A midwife was arrested and was called an abortionist:

Horrifying breaking news out of Texas: www.oag.state.tx.us/news/release...

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— Olivia Messer (@oliviamesser.bsky.social) March 17, 2025 at 1:47 PM

Texas Is Closer To Putting The Ten Commandments In Classrooms After A Key Vote A push to put the Ten Commandments on display in all Texas public school classrooms is closer to reaching Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's desk. JIM VERTUNO and NADIA LATHAN, HuffPost, May 24, 2025

Fox News complains that underage teenage girls aren’t getting pregnant enough: “The problem is teens and young adults. From ages 15-19, the fertility rate is down 70% in the last 2 decades, which means we are telling people who are young not to have babies.”

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— Headquarters (@headquartersnews.bsky.social) September 1, 2026 at 3:22 PM