BREAKING: After being criticized by his party for failing to stand up to Trump, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer tells angry Democrats, "Hey! At least we negotiated a new season of 'Ted Lasso'!"
More news any moment.
Edited 155d ago
uspol
Today, Musk’s X social media company became a form of state media when the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said it would no longer email updates about this week’s two plane crashes—one in Washington, D.C., and one in Philadelphia—and that reporters would have to get their information through X.
#USPol
Trump’s tariffs (which are also likely illegal) are there to make us poor. Trump’s attacks on America’s closest friends, countries such as Canada and Denmark, are there to make enemies of countries where constitutionalism works and people are prosperous. As their country is destroyed, Americans must be denied the idea that anything else is possible.
#USPol
Edited 194d ago
Commentators should please stop using words such as “digital” and “progress” and “efficiency” and “vision” when describing this coup attempt. The plotting oligarchs have legacy money from an earlier era of software, which they are now seeking to leverage, using destructive political techniques, to destroy human institutions. That’s it. They are offering no future beyond acting out their midlife crises on the rest of us. It is demeaning to pretend that they represent something besides a logic of destruction.
I love this idea. The former tech oligarchs have given up whatever claim they may have had to these words by collaborating in the current coup attempt. They are ordinary wealthy, greedy, and mad aspiring tyrants now, having chosen the path of countless past tyrants whose graves merit only urine today.
The digital? That's ours again. Vision? Ours. Progress? Also ours.
#USPol
Edited 194d ago
The Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank's GDP Now is estimating 2.8% GDP decline in the 1st quarter of 2025 and the 1st month of Trump's presidency.
I'm not a GDP growth at all costs person--I believe we have no choice but to stop the mad obsession with making that number go up--but I do think it's important to note that GDP was growing relatively rapidly (by modern standards) through the end of 2024. This change marks a significant turnaround that looks like it might erase a quarter's worth of growth and then some. Official data release is March 27. I suppose we shouldn't be surprised that an administration whose only policy thus far has been to inflict pain on people would inflict economic pain as well.
2 quarters of this is a recession and 4 quarters of this is a depression by conventional metrics.
#USPol #USEconomics #economy #GDP
I'm not a GDP growth at all costs person--I believe we have no choice but to stop the mad obsession with making that number go up--but I do think it's important to note that GDP was growing relatively rapidly (by modern standards) through the end of 2024. This change marks a significant turnaround that looks like it might erase a quarter's worth of growth and then some. Official data release is March 27. I suppose we shouldn't be surprised that an administration whose only policy thus far has been to inflict pain on people would inflict economic pain as well.
2 quarters of this is a recession and 4 quarters of this is a depression by conventional metrics.
#USPol #USEconomics #economy #GDP
My civic duty is to complete! #IVoted, and wrote this handy guide to others in #Phoenix who don't want to spend hours (literally) researching everything on our FOUR PAGE BALLOT!
(Ok, two pages, but double sided counts!)
https://evoterra.medium.com/november-2024-voting-guide-maricopa-county-ld5-eba03c6d85ba
Dozens of Democratic senators have so far voted in support of Trump’s Cabinet nominees when they should be opposing them at every turn
Dead political party. It needs to go, being no longer fit for purpose. They're unable to read the moment and/or unable to act appropriately. Complete failure of situational awareness. That's not going to be fixed by the newly-elected DNC chair or whatever; it reflects deep dysfunction.
There's a phrase in that linked article that the Democrats brought a cheese stick to a knife fight. No. They're sharpening the knives.
#USPol
I offer a salute to the new #Trump administration. #USPol #FuckFascism #FuckNazis #NaziPunksFuckOff
Why is anyone in the U.S. thinking in terms of "four years", or "midterms ", or "elections" (beyond typical authoritarian kinds)?
Have people not been paying attention? Will these people continue to be "Shocked! Shocked!" with each new decision made by this administration?
That anyone believes anything but the worst will happen is how he got re-elected.
This time there are no obstacles to his enacting or enabling anything he chooses.
Stop your willful ignorance, this is real.
Jan 21
2 min
Back from a bit of a hiatus. There are so many things I would like to make short videos about that certainly exceed my ability to say it all.
But first, let's put Elon Musk's unique gesture welcoming in the new administration to music.
Edited 207d ago
My dad had this saying about people trying to talk down to people like him or gaslighting them.
“I’m not going to stand here and let you piss all over me and tell me it’s raining.”
Don’t let anyone tell you it’s raining.
Edited 205d ago
Donald Trump has a secret plan to turn the United States into a dictatorship, and we now see the contours of the fierce political battle ahead.
The US senators are shocked as they realise, Trump tries to copy the dirty tricks of disgraced president Richard Nixon to become all powerful.
Watch my latest political analysis on YouTube in 4K:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTIFRUpItn0
The people who are now in charge of the Office of Personnel Management apparently don’t know how to scrub PDF metadata, and have exposed the original authors of the guidance they’re publishing. Two have links to the Heritage Foundation and its Project 2025.
Noah Peters is the author of the OPM Acting Director Charles Ezell’s January 27 memo (archive) providing guidance on the “Restoring Accountability To Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce” executive order, which is being described as the “Schedule F” order because it effectively reinstates that policy under a new name (“Schedule Policy/Career”). Peters also authored the January 20 memo (archive) from Ezell, which exploits loopholes to bypass limits on political appointments. Both of these memos are clear steps towards achieving a primary goal of Project 2025: to expand President Trump’s power, and to replace career civil servants with Trump loyalists.
As far back as 2023, The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 was recommending Peters for a position in Trump’s second administration. Peters had previously been appointed by Trump in 2019 as the Solicitor at the Federal Labor Relations Authority, where he “aided and defended Trump appointees’ anti-union FLRA policies that went against decades of the agency’s own precedents” according to Court Accountability Action and State Democracy Defenders Action.4 Peters returned to private practice in 2022, but recently quietly updated his LinkedIn profile to reflect a new title of “Senior Advisor” to the Office of Personnel Management. This appointment does not appear to have been announced anywhere else.
1/2
Edited 201d ago
If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?
-- 1 John 3:17
There's never been a better time to divest from Tesla!
#BankruptTesla #CancelStarlink #BoycottSpaceX #TeslaTakedown #ArrestElonMusk #ElonMusk #DOGE #Swastikars #SissySpaceX #NaziMusk #PresidentMusk #FuckElonMusk #USPol
Do not overlook the role of religion in this authoritarian mess. It matters that a large majority of white Trump voters identify as Christian. Yes, yes white supremacy is a big deal here. As is male supremacy. But omitting Christianity/Catholicism from the equation is intellectual malpractice.
What Links Religion and Authoritarianism?
The connections between religiousness and authoritarianism, studied for decades, depend upon the kind of religious belief.
https://daily.jstor.org/what-links-religion-and-authoritarianism/
After hours of deep reflection and self-examination, I believe I have uncovered the source of my profound disappointment. As an immigrant, I once regarded the United States, despite its imperfections, as the pinnacle of nations.
#ElectionDay #Trump #ElectionDay2024 #USPol #DonaldTrump… (1/5)
There is a room with three doors. Each bears a label: “Latino Vote,” “Purpling Suburbs,” and “Big City Turnout.” This November, Texas #Democrats opened these three doors, and behind all they discovered a Cerberus from Greek mythology with the heads of Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Greg Abbott. Then the monster ate them.
From Interim Editor-in-Chief @gusbova: https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-democrats-lost-decade-2024/
#politics #USpol #news #Trump #TedCruz #GregAbbott #TXlege #Republicans #election2024 #Texas
New today from Francesca D'Annunzio: “This moment calls for compassion and meaningful immigration reform that prioritizes saving lives. The future of humanity depends on our response.”
Texans will be forced to defend their communities from #Trump's attacks ... https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-front-lines-mass-deportations/
#immigration #Border #politics #USpol #election2024 #news #Texas
A post-election message from Interim Editor-in-Chief @gusbova to our members, readers, and the rest of our extended community.
https://texasobserver.fundjournalism.org/donate
#journalism #Media #Texas #politics #USpol #fundraiser #nonprofit #future #immigration #news
#DrunkRapist #PeteHegseth readies *actions* against #Trump “foe” Retired General & former chairman of the #JointChiefsOfStaff #MarkMilley
The retired general, a frequent target of #Trump, will lose his #security detail & face an #InspectorGeneral [apparently there’s one left] investigation, said a senior #defense official.
#military #jcs #honor #integrity #IG #RevengePolitics #law #USpol
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/01/28/mark-milley-hegseth-trump/
Beware of Login.gov, which several government systems including Social Security encourage you to transition to using.
Looks like there plans to make it a universal identifier, hooked to all the information the government has about you. It's always been billed as a login-only system that respects privacy, but that could end under the current regime. The linked article from 404 Media has audio of a meeting about doing just that.
https://www.404media.co/things-are-going-to-get-intense-how-a-musk-ally-plans-to-push-ai-on-the-government/
#TechCoup #USPol
Looks like there plans to make it a universal identifier, hooked to all the information the government has about you. It's always been billed as a login-only system that respects privacy, but that could end under the current regime. The linked article from 404 Media has audio of a meeting about doing just that.
https://www.404media.co/things-are-going-to-get-intense-how-a-musk-ally-plans-to-push-ai-on-the-government/
#TechCoup #USPol
American political thought is marred by either-or thinking. This way of thinking has nothing to do with ableist notions of intelligence, that "life of the mind" which elites think will save us, but instead has everything to do with life of the heart. Not everything is a trolley problem. In the words of Thich Nhat Hanh, "One arrow can save two birds at the same time—if the arrow strikes the branch, both birds will fly away." How will you shoot your arrow?