Oh, hey, this isn’t worrisome at all, is it?
A lawyer’s spring break trip to the Dominican Republic with his family ended on a troubling note at Detroit Metro Airport on Sunday: He was detained by federal agents, questioned about his clients, and asked to give up his cellphone, he says.
But Dearborn attorney Amir Makled, who is representing a pro-Palestinian demonstrator who was arrested at the University of Michigan last year, stood his ground. He didn’t give up his phone.
…What followed was a 90-minute, back-and-forth verbal tussle between Makled and two federal agents, who, he said, ultimately released him without taking his phone, but looked at his contacts list instead. For the 38-year-old civil rights and criminal defense attorney, it was a daunting experience that he says highlights a troubling phenomenon that’s occurring across the United States: Lawyers are getting targeted for handling issues the administration of President Donald Trump disagrees with.
What’s worse is what happened when he tried to clear passport control. This is an American citizen, mind you:
Mom and the kids got through with no problem. But when Makled’s photo was taken, a notification popped up and Makled said he heard one agent ask another agent: “Hey, are the TTRT folks around?”
TTRT? Is the Tactical Terrorism Response Team. For a Muslim lawyer coming back from vacation. The TSA people repeatedly asked him to give over his phone, and he refused because, he said, there was information therein covered by attorney-client privilege. They told him they wanted his contacts list. He ended up letting them look at it, and the encounter ended.
As I wrote on Facebook earlier this week, it’s time to stop asking whether we’re “at risk” of becoming a fascist autocracy. It’s clear we already are.
I got an unexpected work assignment yesterday, and should probably hop to it. Short blog, but sometimes that happens. How about another picture from this weekend? Not mine, but I admire its sauciness:
Dorothy said on April 9, 2025 at 9:39 am
That sign!! I love it so much. I’d love to get some tee shirts that say how I feel about that fat fu** but I also have an impressionable granddaughter who is now asking endless questions and wants explanations about EVERYTHING. I don’t mind at all – her brain is craving knowledge. But I have to measure what I say and how I say it so as not to give her the idea to repeat it at school.
The other day we had an interaction. I corrected Mike for something he shouted. O had not heard it. “Was it something bad Zah Zah said? Was it the F word?” My head turned so fast – “What do you know about the F word? Are kids at school telling you?” She got very quiet and cast her eyes down and would not give me a straight answer. I assured her she was not in trouble and it was normal for kids to learn these things. But she should be careful about repeating these words. When she’s not within earshot I will tell her parents. But good God she’s in second grade. I think I was in 7th or 8th when my vocabulary jumped leaps in bounds in the bad words department.
I was distracted by the other lady in the picture, thinking she had knitting needles sticking up out of her bag but alas, I think it’s the top edge of a ziploc bag.
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Sherri said on April 9, 2025 at 11:08 am
John Roberts isn’t going to ride to the rescue, not that any of us believed he would.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/04/supreme-court-analysis-trump-el-salvador.html
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Peter said on April 9, 2025 at 11:21 am
I have to admit – that sign’s a keeper.
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Sherri said on April 9, 2025 at 11:36 am
Bassett, to answer your point about Kelvin Sampson having prior incidents with the NCAA at his previous coaching gig, yes, I know. It was the fact of those infractions that made what he did at Indiana an infraction. Because of the impermissible calls he made at Oklahoma, he was not allowed to initiate calls with recruits for one year. During that year, while he was at Indiana, he participated in 10 conference calls with recruits.
It is because of his violation of the earlier terms that he was given such a stiff show-cause penalty. A five year show cause penalty for impermissible phone calls is really stiff, in the context of NCAA penalties on coaches, and it was far from inevitable that he would every get the chance to coach NCAA basketball again. Most coaches don’t come back from a show cause penalty.
The rules around contact with recruits have also liberalized since the days of Sampson’s infractions, just like the rules around paying players have.
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Jakash said on April 9, 2025 at 1:14 pm
Excellent column from Neil Steinberg today, quoting a Duke history professor speaking about the roots of the ongoing nightmare in this benighted nation:
https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2025/04/08/organization-of-american-historians-donald-trump-doge-elon-musk
I particularly liked: “… the billionaire bro-ligarchy of Silicon Valley, above all the South African apartheid spawn Elon Musk.” That’s gold, Jerry!
I was thinking this might be a good protest sign:
F
ELON
and the
FELON
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Scout said on April 9, 2025 at 1:42 pm
Since my wife is a naturalized citizen and her passport states her country of origin (Colombia), we have made the decision not to leave the country any time soon for fear of what may happen when we try to re-enter. Absolutely astonishing that we have to think like this.
Yesterday I saw that I had a “one time benefit” of $99 direct deposited into my Social Security account. I had no idea what this is for, and going onto the website to find out told me nothing. I was worried it would affect my monthly deposit today but that showed up as usual. I’m just concerned now that they’ll use the $99 for an excuse to ‘claw back’ funds out of my account at some point. Absolutely astonishing we have to think like this.
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Julie Robinson said on April 9, 2025 at 2:20 pm
That’s odd, Scout, and I hate to think what it could mean. I hope and pray your wife will be safe.
So the reciprocal tariffs have been paused, except for China and vehicles. Who knows what will happen on tomorrow’s toilet visit?
MRI for D’s broken back denied and now the real fun begins.
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Deborah said on April 9, 2025 at 2:21 pm
We have decided not to travel to Europe during this upheaval, mainly because they must hate us over there, not that I’m worried about violence against us and I certainly don’t blame them for being angry, it just feels like it wouldn’t be pleasant and why would it be.
It’s bad in about every way it could possibly be right now, so depressing. I had a weird dream last night, but completely understandable as an anxiety dream. There were giant boulders falling from the sky willy nilly, like 12′ in diameter. I was so glad to wake up.
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ROGirl said on April 9, 2025 at 3:31 pm
The sign sums it all up for me but God, this is all so fucking depressing.
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Deborah said on April 9, 2025 at 5:14 pm
Jeff G, you probably know this already (I tried to link to it but couldn’t figure it out so I copied it):
Microsoft cancels $1 Billion project to build 3 new data centers in Ohio—just 5 days after Trump tariffs.
Licking County, Ohio will now lose roughly 1,000 jobs & $150 million per year in revenue for the local economy.
400–600 construction jobs & 540 permanent jobs were expected to be created at full operation of the 3 new data centers.
Microsoft said it abandoned the $1 billion project “after careful consideration” of the shift in economic forecasting. If the economy improves the company “will continue to evaluate these sites” for future projects.
In the meantime, Microsoft will still own the land and use it for farming—creating no new jobs.
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Jeff Gill said on April 9, 2025 at 7:48 pm
Thank you, Deborah; we’ve certainly heard about that around here. The closer to the ground word is that Microsoft is still pitching in to help with building infrastructure in the area of the sites, suggesting they’re slowing, not stopping. No construction, but they want to see us finish the roads around them and the power lines strung. The actual job total we never thought to be more than a couple hundred (data centers employ a surprisingly small number of people, all told), and the wild figures we always get fed around “construction jobs” are interesting fabrications themselves — they’re mostly already employed people elsewhere, who are shipped in, work a few months here, and move on to the next major build. But are credited by politicians as “400-600 construction jobs.” They are getting paid, and create stuff (wiring, plumbing, concrete panel assembly, etc.) but they ain’t a job like people are hoping for, like getting a 50 week a year position with benefits with a company that stays put, and where you buy a house in the county and sign your kid up for Scouts or Little League.
The bigger chatter is whether or not TSMC, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, is going to end up with a 10% stake of Intel’s chip fabs, which are currently going up ten miles WNW of where I sit and type, as the crow flies. My take is that could ensure the completion of the project, and better management. TSMC knows how chips are made, and can teach Intel a thing or two. What with the amount of concrete already poured, steel framing members set, and mega-loads delivered (chip “furnaces” and other large pre-assembled components shipped up the Ohio River from overseas, and driven with great drama over six days of moving stoplights and carefully turning corners, along the Scioto and up into Licking County . . .), I think something is going to be completed. Will it end up producing 50% of the global chip market? I doubt it.
On the other hand, I made some cool archival finds today, in the county recorder’s office and online. It seems so much more peaceful back in 1820 and 1829 and even 1905, but I know it wasn’t, really. The illusion is still pleasant.
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Mark P said on April 9, 2025 at 7:56 pm
Microsoft bought some land near us for a data center in NW Georgia about a year and a half ago. They said planning would take about a year, and then construction would take about a year as well. So far there has been no sign of any activity on the site, which we drive through when we go anywhere. I would not be surprised if they delay it, given the beautiful economy Trump has brought to us. I have mixed feelings about it. If we continue to live here, I really don’t want to see it, but if we move, as I hope to do, there may be some benefit to is. Maybe.
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Sherri said on April 9, 2025 at 8:01 pm
Microsoft has backed off on a number of data center plans in the past couple of months, more likely related to the state of AI than to the state of the economy. (I have no inside knowledge about Microsoft’s plan on this front.)
Here’s a note from a local tea shop that I buy tea from, on how they plan on weathering the tariff storm: https://friday-afternoon-tea.myshopify.com/blogs/fridays-blog/our-state-of-tea-union-for-april-2025
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alex said on April 9, 2025 at 10:25 pm
Jeff, my hubby’s a road warrior with an engineering firm that does industrial builds all over the country. I can tell you anecdotally that the cash infusion into the local economy goes primarily to extended-stay hotels, fast food joints and strip clubs. Secondarily, there’s heavy equipment rentals and hardware purchases at places like Walmart and Harbor Freight for tools that were forgotten back at their headquarters. And then there’s also the temp employment of the local non-English-speaking population whose paychecks end up getting spent wherever. But, hey, money’s money.
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Jeff Gill said on April 10, 2025 at 7:22 am
Alex once again strikes to the heart of the matter. Yep, I hear the same thing.
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Suzanne said on April 10, 2025 at 9:50 am
Google is building a huge data center not far from me. They bought up tons of farmland, closed a road, and all for maybe 200 jobs that pay roughly about $75,000 per year. Jobs, yes, which are good but that doesn’t seem like the huge economic boon for the area as was promoted. Experience also tells me that decades up the road, when technology changes or the center becomes outdated, and Google abandons it, this area will be left with acres of probably toxic rot.
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Sherri said on April 10, 2025 at 12:57 pm
Jim Gray, one of the early leaders in the field of reliable computing, wrote a famous paper in the field that said that to keep a system running, you needed a man and a dog. A man to fix the system, and a dog to keep the man from the system. Data centers need minders to monitor the conditions (temperature most importantly) and to swap out failing units (which, given the large number of units, happens regularly.) They need HVAC people and electricians.
But it’s not a ton of jobs, and the jobs won’t grow, nor is there much scope for growth in the jobs themselves. There are already data centers in the ocean, which have no humans involved.
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jcburns said on April 10, 2025 at 1:32 pm
Yeah, it’s amazing how they get those dolphins to check temps and swap out bad units!
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Mark P said on April 10, 2025 at 8:20 pm
MS estimated around 100 full-time, operating employees, which sounds about right for 3 shifts seven days a week. I assume a manager of some sort. That’s a very small work force for a billion dollar project. The county is looking at property taxes, but they are giving MS a ten-year break on that. I assume there will be jobs for the year it takes to do site work and construction. I wonder if they will use local labor.
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Jeff Gill said on April 10, 2025 at 8:48 pm
Ummmm: U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 9, Clause 3 reads “No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.”
So what the dickens is this?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/04/10/trump-doj-ivestigations-krebs-taylor/
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Sherri said on April 10, 2025 at 9:30 pm
Trump doesn’t care about your puny Constitution, as he has demonstrated over and over. Neither does Congress, nor at least 4 members of SCOTUS, and too often, 5.
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Sherri said on April 10, 2025 at 9:49 pm
House Republicans just passed their stupid voter disenfranchisement bill. This one could disenfranchise me, if I didn’t have a passport, or the resources to obtain one. Because my name does not match the name on my birth certificate.
Like all their other disenfranchisement efforts, they won’t just explicitly remove the right to vote from me, they’ll just make it harder. They prefer I didn’t vote.
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Suzanne said on April 10, 2025 at 9:56 pm
Our daughter got married several years ago and she and her husband planned to change their last name to a combination of their names but had never gotten it done. She told me several days ago that they will keep the names they were born with because of this law.
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Julie Robinson said on April 10, 2025 at 10:56 pm
Our DIL chose to retain her birth name and she’s looking smarter and smarter for it. We were fine with it, not that she asked us (or should have asked us). I have a passport, but what about my mom?
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Sherri said on April 10, 2025 at 11:37 pm
Indeed, Julie, I’m not sure my mother has a valid passport. Her name on her driver’s license doesn’t match her birth certificate, and she lives in a state where you have to show ID to vote.
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Julie Robinson said on April 11, 2025 at 12:20 am
This really steams me. When Mom moved to Indiana we had a hell of a time getting her an ID. First her birth certificate, and then on a later trip, her marriage certificate, were rejected. Each time she had to download and print applications for new ones, then they had to be notarized, and she had to mail checks to Iowa. She didn’t drive, have a printer, or know a notary, so without me pushing each step it wouldn’t have happened. The barriers were too great for her.
And of course all of this from a person of privilege, who had a birth certificate, checkbook, and a family member who could help. What about people without those kinds of resources? Rhetorical question, obviously.
I was going to let my passport lapse since I’m done with international travel. Not now.
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Julie Robinson said on April 11, 2025 at 12:27 am
Also, as someone who checks in voters, this will make election lines much longer. When someone hands me their license, I scan it and they pop up, then I just have to check if they’re still at the address. With a passport or other forms of ID, I have to type in the name and then start scrolling through a list of everyone with the same last name. History has shown us that long lines at the polls suppress voters turnout. Oh, wait.
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Mark P said on April 11, 2025 at 11:25 am
If voting, or registration, requires ID that you have to pay for, then it’s a poll tax. But I’m sure the corrupt political hacks in the Supreme Court are not concerned about that.
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