uspol

Rage, rage against the lying orange shite. #USpol

I hope there are journalists digging into who sold and who bought stocks and cryptocurrencies, which ones and when, leading up to Apr 2 and in the next few weeks.

The low-effort generative AI looking tariff rates is a tell. The fact bitcoin moved the same way as US stock indices has a bad smell about it too.

#TrumpAndDump #PumpAndDump #tariff #USPol #USEconomy #con

I just saw Mark Elias' tariff theory. It is a far darker idea than tariffs as sales tax to replace income tax.

His idea is that it is just a Grand Corruption Machine. It is designed such that leaders from business, US states and other countries have to go to Trump and beg for relief from the tariffs that apply to them. The begging involves making Trump richer.

The idea that trillions of dollars are being wiped from the stock exchanges, a severe recession seems imminent, inflation is spiking and the entire world order is being upset so that Trump can play at being king of the world and get some kickbacks does seem like a very Trumpian plan.

#uspol

I plan to keep tooting about my current situation of my SSDI check not showing up this month.

I do have people around me to help me out, potentially temporary housing, and access to food...

I might lose my internet, I never know.

My future is uncertain.

When policitcs fuck with lives, I cant just ignore the political articles.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/elon-musks-doge-goons-cause-major-crash-to-social-security-site/

#USpol
#MySSCheckIsMissing

In all the talk of US trade deficits forcing Trump et al. to erect tariff barriers to "rebalance trade", we've lost or ignored the fact that the US has an enormous digital trade surplus. See, for instance, this paper Estimating digital product trade through corporate revenue data. The US's main conventional export is currently petroleum, but it exports over twice as much in digital advertising. The US's overall "digital exports" are larger than the total exports of France, which is the world's 7th leading exporter. However, these numbers are not typically included in reports about trade deficits or surpluses.

#Trump #tariffs #USPol #USEconomy #GlobalTrade #trade

Some local coverage for the Oregon #HandsOff protests from OPB:

https://www.opb.org/article/2025/04/05/hands-off-protests-oregon-washington/

“Hands Off” protests began in Tigard in Southeast Portland Saturday morning, with dozens more planned in Oregon, from Gold Beach to Astoria, to Hood River, Enterprise, Redmond and Klamath Falls.

#USPol #Resist #Protest #Oregon #Portland #Tigard

Remember when RFK Jr said he wanted to make lists of autistic people?

Disabled advocates warned that was just the beginning. That the violation of medical privacy would be used for nefarious purposes.

Today the regime announced it’s giving all personally identifiable information of Medicaid enrolees to ICE.

That’s right, ICE bullies will now have access to almost 80 million people’s personal info. This is an atrocious violation of privacy that will no doubt be used to target other groups as well.

It won’t stop with immigrants. It won’t stop with autistic people.

Fascists never stop and we must all fight back.

#uspol #fascism #immigration #medicaid #ableism #disability

"Wait, I’m sorry, the guy smashing a car window to abduct an immigrant may not be with ICE at all, but a member of a far-right militia group?"
-W Stancil

"My search says this individual's name is Michael Meyer, he commonly goes by the name Lewis Arthur, and his group, Veterans on Patrol (VOP), is associated with the Oath Keepers."
-M Datson
He has a criminal record⬇️
🚨Update, I apologize, the ID of the man hasn't been established.
#OathKeepers #ICE #Immigrants #DHS #USPol
https://tucson.com/news/local/man-leading-internet-claims-of-tucson-child-sex-trafficking-camp-arrested-again/article_be4184b7-fb9f-5f68-ab4c-8354814f4784.html

I think I've already posted this but it's worth re-posting:

"Trump admin's attacks on chronic disease research abandons long COVID and ME/CFS patients... Again"

https://www.salon.com/2025/04/01/admins-on-chronic-disease-research-abandons-long-and-mecfs-patients-again/

"Budget cuts and the dismantling of federal agencies are making it harder for patients with long COVID and ME/CFS"

@mecfs @longcovid

Edit: added hashtag

#USPol #LongCovid #MEcfs #Research

Why isn't the world going insane at Republican politicians visiting concentration camps and posing in front of people who will likely be dead within the decade.

This wasn't even normal in 1942. It's not even normal in North Korea - Fascist regimes usually keep their death camps a secret.

#USA #USPol #Fascism #Nazis #concentrationcamps #deathcamp #CECOT #MAGA #Religion #Supposed #Catholic

The wonder occasioned by the fact that the things we are at present experiencing are ‘still’ possible in the twentieth century is no philosophical wonder.

--Walter Benjamin

When the state of exception...becomes the rule, then the juridico-political system becomes a machine which may at any moment turn lethal.

-- Giorgio Agamben

#USPol

Just out from @josephinelee and Joelle DiPaolo: After three decades of fighting back against #vouchers, the governor enlisted the help of the president to destroy the last vestiges of Republican resistance this week. https://www.texasobserver.org/abbott-trump-house-vouchers-pass/

#education #schools #Trump #GregAbbott #politics #USpol #news #TXlege #Texas #Republicans #democracy

Here is a brave man speaking truth.

> How you die does not redeem how you lived.

#uspol

Republicans in the US Congress are STRIPPING THEIR OWN POWER AWAY in acquiescence to the US president.

#USA #US #USpol #trump #tariffs
—

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/16/us/politics/republicans-house-tariffs-emergency-trump.html

#美國 #USpol #USpolitics #SignalGate
#Hegseth #Trump #MAGA

這事還有後續。
Hegseth在自己創建的另一個Signal群組分享軍事機密。
這個群組內包括他夫人，兄弟，還有其他人。
他之前已經被批評帶他夫人參加和外國領袖的會議。

前國防部發言人John Ullyot在上週辭職，
他說國防部一個月來處於完全混亂之中。

國家安全顧問Waltz把記者加入Signal群組。
國防部長在Signal群組和家人分享國家機密。

他們沒把國家安全放在心上，和川皇如出一轍。
他們應該知道不能這樣做，
機密資料是只能在特定設備特定環境下處理的。
但只是不在乎，大概覺得也沒什麼大不了的。
做錯事，川皇也沒有解僱他們。
到現在也沒人主動要為此負責。

MAGA們是美國國家安全的大漏洞。

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g8r701lrno

https://apnews.com/article/hegseth-signal-chat-houthis-attack-8dbf9dd6c711796438a5c1c84831c40b

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/20/pete-hegseth-signal-chat-yemen-attack

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/04/20/pentagon-chaos-ullyot-hegseth-00205594

“The whole system is premised on commodifying human beings.”

From Sandy West in our magazine: In the aftermath of Roe v. Wade, adoptions are on the rise in #Texas. But some private foster care and adoption agencies may have crossed serious ethical lines. https://www.texasobserver.org/private-adoption-agencies-legal-custody-battles/

#RoeVWade #children #HumanRights #politics #USpol #Texas #adoption #news

The Atlantic just sent out this article, speculating why the stock market is behaving the way it is. I may be wrong, but it seems like NOW is the time for a General Strike. Perhaps hand in hand with a mass withdrawal from "passive investors" like Vanguard, the American people can reign in this runaway machine.

https://www.theatlantic.com/economy/archive/2025/08/stock-market-theories/683780/

https://generalstrikeus.com

#GeneralStrike #Resist #USPOL #capitalism #nokings #50501movement

#Auspol #USpol #History #ItalianHistory #Fascism #DodgyAndGreatLeaders

#Reading or more like dipping into

B. A. SANTAMARIA
ITALY CHANGES SHIRTS:
THE ORIGINS OF ITALIAN FASCISM
MA THESIS
UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE
1934

and am enjoying focusing on sentences and letting my mind mull over ideas while i do/ watch/ read other stuffs. this might become a thread with occasional ramblings.

i’m struck by some parallels with USA (how could one not be?) but for context am reminded mussolini had established himself as leader much earlier than hitler and was, in fact, admired by hitler. (i think a great deal of hitler’s success was down to goebbels.) both mussolini and hitler lived in a time when the ongoing war of ideas between communism and capitalism were front and centre.

the labels and the details morph and change over time, but when our previous opposition leader threw words like “liberal”, “commie” or “woke” around, i suspect it was really more of the same.

in the red corner, people who think governments can and should care about everyone, and in the blue corner, those who think individualism is essential to god’s grand design.
I wonder, sometimes, if the USA is one western country that never really had a “left” at all.

On the very first page of his thesis, Santamaria suggests the Italian public embraced fascism (and the idea of a strong leader) because parliamentary democracy seemed to suck.
(Echos of this in Trump’s “drain the swamp” rhetoric, and his now open contempt for the system altogether)

Discussing Mussolini, Santamaria goes on to say Lenin believed “the only man who could successfully rule Italy was the one who reproduced in himself the main characteristics of the great mass of Italians”

The USA has a problematic electoral system, and many people are disenfranchised in one way or another. I don’t want to slander an entire nation, but I do wonder how many people found it easier to identify with Trump than with Harris?

Closer to home, how well do we identify with this or that type of leader in Australia? Do we reject potential leaders more easily than we embrace them?

1975 in Australia was a disappointment, but I distinctly remember that, apart from the scare about whitlam overspending/ seeking dodgy loans from someone with a foreign name, a lot of people were fed up with having to vote, and all the campaigning that goes with more-frequent-than-usual elections.

This:

"Sunday reading: Why the Extremists Took Over on the Right

I wrote about the escalating sense of besiegement that has fueled the rise of dangerous people and truly radical ideas that fully define the Right today.

This week’s piece: https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/why-the-extremists-took-over-on-the "

Here: https://mastodon.social/@tzimmer_history/115004613922564206

#USPol #USExtremism #Misogyny #ChristoFascism #RepublicanParty #MAGA #Trump

Introducing the September/October 2025 issue of Texas Observer magazine, with cover art by Adrià Volt, and stories by Michelle Pitcher, Julie Poole, Francesca D'Annunzio and more.

Become a member to get our magazine 6 times per year: https://texasobserver.fundjournalism.org/join/

#journalism #media #HumanRights #healthcare #Texas #politics #USpol #news #disability #nonprofit

“This is the most massive secrecy grab in #Texas since the adoption of the Public Information Act.”

New today from Michelle Pitcher: A move to "standardize" #police personnel files could have devastating consequences for #transparency. https://www.texasobserver.org/secrecy-g-file-police-records-texas-legislature/

#news #politics #USpol #fascism #TXlege #journalism #HumanRights #news #democracy

#USpol "Commissioner Bisignano also joined President Donald J. Trump at the White House as the President issued a presidential proclamation, recommitting to always defend Social Security and recognizing the countless contributions of every American senior who has invested their time, talent, and resources into our Nation’s future."

"Recommitting" means what?

Actions:
Sec8 voucher and SNAP reduced. SSDI hasnt increased as much as inflation for decades.

Meaning:
Big words, hypocritical action.

"On behalf of the people of Boston, and in solidarity with the cities and communities targeted by this federal administration for our refusal to bow down to unconstitutional threats and unlawful coercion, we affirm our support for each other and for our democracy. Boston will never back down from being a beacon of freedom, and a home for everyone."

Michelle Wu
Mayor of Boston

#resist #nokings #michellewu #Boston #generalstrike #uspol

https://content.boston.gov/sites/default/files/file/2025/08/Response%20AG%20Bondi.pdf

Ω🪬Ω
#TheCryptocalypseChronicles: Iran vs. Israel... On the Blockchain

The cease fire between Israel and Iran does not appear to apply to cyber warfare. #Tether and other #stablecoin companies have been seizing a lot of Iranians' assets almost certainly at Israel's request... which is kind of funny when you know that:

1) Tether has more or less openly encouraged Iranians to use Tether as a way to evade sanctions for years

2) Benjamin Netanyahu's son Yair spends a lot of time with Tether's founders.

(RTs appreciated)
https://cryptadamus.substack.com/p/israel-vs-iran-on-the-blockchain

#iran #israel #HowardLutnick #economics #netanyahu #gaza #uspol #uspolitics #MiddleEastCrisis #Nobitex #Citex #IRGC

'Putin is subject to an international arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, a court the U.S. doesn't recognize.'

Kinda says it all right there.

'Immunity' from same court has permitted Gaza.

Why has Trump surrendered to second-rate Russia vs. using America's vastly greater power to help Russia while also serving America's interests?

We face a historic inflection point steeper than faced by UK/USA/Europe in 1940.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ukraine-russia-war-euro-leaders-meet-1.7612412

#politics #uspol #ukraine #eu #uk