Today's News: Turning America into Oceania

*illustration from Wayne Horton's substack

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It is not just Canadians and other foreign visitors who are running afoul of America's border police. It's now happening to Americans too. The US Customs and Border Protection and the Immigration and Naturalization Service might as well start wearing brownshirts.

Example one: 

Former FBI head James Comey (you remember, the dumbfuck who sabotaged Hillary's campaign a week before the 2016 election? Yeah, that guy!) 

So yesterday he tweeted and the entire Trump administration lost their minds:

James Comey just broke the Internet 🤣

Epic! pic.twitter.com/MC6jsE72Ms

— Quadcarl (@quadcarl_carl) May 15, 2025

Apparently the "86 47" is supposed to be some kind of death threat against Trump, even though "86" actually just means "throw out".

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BREAKING: They now are sending secret service agents to James Comey's house for calling for the removal of a sitting president who is going against the Constitution.

If they don't like your "free speech" they will intimidate you, lie about you, and make you the enemy.

8647… pic.twitter.com/WBO7q7IUjn

— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) May 15, 2025

So many people craving the "I am living in East Germany" drama.

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— Tom Nichols (@radiofreetom.bsky.social) May 15, 2025 at 7:13 PM

And over at No More Mister Nice Blog, Steve M writes the pearl-clutch over the 8647 gibe indicates a darker target:

They're trying to build an America in which anything a Fox viewer would like is legal and anything a Fox viewer would find distasteful is against the law. At the very least, they're trying to build an America in which anything that offends the famous Fox viewer in The White House is illegal. If we don't call them on this now, they'll keep trying to remake the country in this way. And they might get us at least partway there.

Example two:

Americans are being checked by border agents as they're driving to the border, before they can leave the country:

 

At least two extra security checkpoints have popped up at U.S.-Canada border crossings in Blaine. That led to a two and a half hour delay for one traveler. https://t.co/3Vb6Hlx1rU

— The Seattle Times (@seattletimes) May 15, 2025

The story says they're just searching tourist cars for fentanyl. Yeah, sure... 

Example three: 

We've all heard about Canadians and other foreigners who have been prevented from entering the United States, but now even American citizens are being stopped and questioned at their own border: 

Parker Molloy / The Present Age

CBP Detains Hasan Piker: When Border Control Becomes Thought Police
The progressive streamer's two-hour interrogation about his political views is a chilling signal of what happens when criticizing the government becomes a border security issue.
So, this is wild. Twitch star Hasan Piker spent his weekend getting detained and interrogated for two hours by Customs and Border Protection at Chicago's O'Hare airport after returning from Paris. Yes, the same Hasan Piker who's a U.S. citizen with 2.8 million Twitch followers. Yes, despite being enrolled in Global Entry, which is literally designed to let "low-risk travelers" skip the hassle....
 

 ...What's happening here is painfully obvious. This is about creating an environment of fear — making people think twice before criticizing the government, especially about sensitive foreign policy issues. As Piker himself put it, they're trying "to get people like myself or others that would be in my shoes that don't have that same level of security to shut the fuck up."...

At a particular interior BC crossing, I've seen that the US border people are a lot tougher on Americans going home than Canadians going to the US. Makes me wonder if they're mostly searching Americans coming to the US, and if so why? What are they worried about? Escapees?

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— SusanDe (@susande.bsky.social) May 5, 2025 at 9:10 PM

Example four:  

American immigration enforcement are increasingly acting like they're soldiers attacking Al-Fallujah (a city in Iraq that was utterly destroyed by the American army in 2004)

They’re doing this in the Berkshires which is like the Hamptons of Massachusetts

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— Molly Jong-Fast (@mollyjongfast.bsky.social) May 11, 2025 at 5:41 AM

Actual fucking brownshirts

— Adm Grunchy (@admgrunchy.bsky.social) May 11, 2025 at 9:00 AM

Example five:  

And Trump is increasingly losing touch with reality.  He seems to think he is the hero or the villain in whatever movie or TV show he just saw -- The Purge, The Hunger Games, Sicario: Day of the Soldado, The Running Man, Escape from Alcatraz, American Idol - or whatever he last heard from Elon. 

And the rest of his administration are such sycophantic incompetents they're just going along with it:

Trump definitely didn't watch "Escape from Alcatraz" on PBS before deciding he was going to reopen Alcatraz. The movie didn't start until about 90 minutes after the truth social post.

So he just saw it on the TV guide and remembered Alcatraz existed. Which is kinda worse. pic.twitter.com/Wwt81mShLu

— Jake Rubinstein (@Jlrube) May 5, 2025

To recap the last two weekends:

Trump decided to tariff foreign-made movies right after he talked to Jon Voight.

He decided to re-open Alcatraz right after seeing Escape From Alcatraz on TV.

He decided to put price controls on pharmaceuticals after he talked to a fat friend. https://t.co/1OtYd8drrf

— Biscuit Salad (@BiscuitSalad) May 12, 2025

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"Migrants, may the odds be ever in your favor.” - Kristi Noem

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— Hoodlum 🇺🇸 (@nothoodlum.bsky.social) May 15, 2025 at 7:01 PM

lol you guys think trump and maga would establish anything as sophisticated as the hunger games? not even close.. try the purge

— Adjunct Angel (@adjunctangel.bsky.social) May 15, 2025 at 7:07 PM

And remember "We have always been at war with East Asia"?

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Yes, indeed:

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