2025-11-01 21:55:41
Is America Heading Towards Civil War? with Rep. Ilhan Omar by Hasan Minhaj
#uspol
I'm at an interesting intersection between poor as fuck (or adjacent, mostly anarchist) folks and generally well off (mostly liberal-ish) tech folks, so every once and a while I can help with some info that bridges that gap. Right now is kind of a critical time for that.
For anyone not extremely affected by the SNAP thing, here's a reasonable video:
#USPol
RE: #USPOL
What you can do, in the next *two weeks* . Keep a bare minimum of democracy f…
this starts slow but I think gets pretty good.
How to Protest The Trump Regime Like The Civil Rights Movement by Offline with Jon Favreau
#uspol
Dropping the penny is one thing, but like everything this moronic administration does is unplanned chaos.
https://fortune.com/2025/10/30/america-is-running-out-of-pennies-costing-millions/
Carving Pumpkins to save democracy
#uspol
As a security engineer, whenever anyone talks about a control it's always important to ask "by what mechanism?"
> "Oh, that can't happen because we have a system to stop it."
By what mechanism?
> "We have documentation that says...."
Yeah, that's not a mechanism.
People keep saying, "Trump can't do that!" But like... by what mechanism?
> "The constitution says..."
Yeah... a documented list of rules is not self-enforcing. What is the mechanism?
What makes this impossible? Oh, it's possible under certain conditions? Oh, it's always possible and you're completely relying on the idea that there will never be a malicious actor? Yeah, that's gonna get exploited. Oh shit, now you're owned.
What do you do with a system that's completely owned? Once it's compromised it can never be trusted again. What would you tell a client who told you, "Patching is really hard, so we're just gonna ban the attacker's IP."
What, you're not even gonna reinstall?
I assume we've all had the "burn everything down and start again" client. I wonder how many of us thought we would see the US government ask for them to hold it's beer.
#USPol
Building a big bribe room to sell the country off for parts while the government is rapidly deconstructed into a legislatively induced coma #uspol
I'm old enough to remember the unraveling of the Watergate cover-up, and the Epstein story has a very familiar stench. #USpol
Who knew?
They were keeping the Epstein files in the East Wing of the White House!
#uspol
#justjoking
The entire medical extraction industry can burn in hell, and any politico that stands in the way of national single payer Healthcare should be impeached and banned from public office forever.
It's a national disgrace exceeded only by Trump himself.
#uspol
This "executive order" system simply has to be removed from the US political system. Why is it even a thing? It's clearly not democratic...
#UsPol
Apropos of nothing… #uspol
I struggle to process the fact that Todd Blanche gave my husband his very first job offer in law.
(Yes, THAT Todd Blanche from the DoJ, deputy attorney general, the one who has been in the news for all kinds of terrible things he’s up to)
I went to a party with that guy 3 years ago! And now he’s doing increasingly cartoonish villain things every other week.
He seemed normal. Fun, actually.
And then months after he went to defend Trump as his personal lawyer and since then we’ve continued to be confused and disturbed.
We haven’t had any contact with him after he went to work for Trump, of course. But I can’t stop wondering how the fuck the person my husband worked with is the same person defending pedophiles. (Allegedly)
#USPol #ToddBlanche
Happy Thanksgiving!
#USpol
Sooo, is that going to work?
"A federal judge in Rhode Island on Friday blocked President Donald Trump's administration from suspending all food aid for millions of Americans amid the ongoing government shutdown and directed it to use contingency funds to pay for the benefits."
#Politics #USPolitics #USPol #SNAP
The fracturing of the Dutch far-right, after Wilder's reminded everyone that bigots are bad at compromise, is definitely a relief. Dutch folks I've talked to definitely see D66 as progressive, <strike>so there's no question this is a hard turn to the left (even if it's not a total flip to the far-left)</strike> a lot of folks don't agree. I'm going to let the comments speak rather than editorialize myself..
While this is a useful example of how a democracy can be far more resilient to fascism than the US, that is, perhaps, not the most interesting thing about Dutch politics. The most interesting thing is something Dutch folks take for granted and never think of as such: there are two "governments."
The election was for the Tweede Kamer. This is a house of representatives. The Dutch use proportional representation, so people can (more or less) vote for the parties they actually want. Parties <strike>rarely</strike> never actually get a ruling majority, so they have to form coalition governments. This forces compromise, which is something Wilders was extremely bad at. He was actually responsible for collapsing the coalition his party put together, which triggered this election... and a massive loss of seats for his party.
Dutch folks do still vote strategically, since a larger party has an easier time building the governing coalition and the PM tends to come from the largest party. This will likely be D66, which is really good for the EU. D66 has a pretty radical plan to solve the housing crisis, and it will be really interesting to see if they can pull it off. But that's not the government I want to talk about right now.
In the Netherlands, failure to control water can destroy entire towns. A good chunk of the country is below sea level. Both floods and land reclamation have been critical parts of Dutch history. So in the 1200's or so, the Dutch realized that some things are too important to mix with normal politics.
You see, if there's an incompetent government that isn't able to actually *do* anything (see Dick Schoof and the PVV/VVD/NSC/BBB coalition) you don't want your dikes to collapse and poulders to flood. So the Dutch created a parallel "government" that exists only to manage water: waterschap or heemraadschap (roughly "Water Board" in English). These are regional bureaucracies that exist only to manage water. They exist completely outside the thing we usually talk about as a "government" but they have some of the same properties as a government. They can, for example, levy taxes. The central government contributes funds to them, but lacks authority over them. Water boards are democratically elected and can operate more-or-less independent of the central government.
Controlling water is a common problem, so water boards were created to fulfill the role of commons management. Meanwhile, so many other things in politics run into the very same "Tragedy of the Commons" problems. The right wing solution to commons management is to let corporations ruin everything. The left-state solution is to move everything into the government so it can be undermined and destroyed by the right. The Dutch solution to this specific problem has been to move commons management out of the domain of the central government into something else.
And when I say "government" here, I'm speaking more to the liberal definition of the term than to an anarchist definition. A democratically controlled authority that facilitates resource management lacks the capacity for coercive violence that anarchists define as "government." (Though I assume they might leverage police or something if folks refuse to pay their taxes, but I can't imagine anyone choosing not to.)
As the US federal government destroys the social fabric of the US, as Trump guts programs critical to people's survival, it might be worth thinking about this model. These authorities weren't created by any central authority, they evolved from the people. Nothing stops Americans from building similar institutions that are both democratic and outside of the authority of a government that could choose to defund and abolish them... nothing but the realization that yes, you actually can.
#USPol #NLPol
Jesus fuck. Now you’re just embarrassing the species.
#uspol
I seriously laughed out loud when I read that Trump said that he is better looking than Mamdani.
First of all, it doesn't fucking matter!
Second, it's totally wrong. Mamdani is a good looking dude. 😉
#USPOL
Building a big bribe room to sell the country off for parts while the government is rapidly deconstructed into a legislatively induced coma #uspol
Discuss: The pros of having a conman president.
#uspol #discussion
@… lays out the gap between (a) Democrats' collective fantasies of "the next election" and (b) what's actually happening.
#USPol
RE: #fascism, especially American fascism, there's something you can do. If you're in the US, don't buy anything if you can until Dec 2nd. If you do have to buy something, buy second hand, or buy local. If you're outside, don't buy anything from the US or any US company at all.
Spread the word. Keep it on people's mind. Write your own post. Talk to people you know in person. Print out flyers and post them around town.
The system understands the language of money. If you want a response, you have to speak the language the system understands.
Trump is extremely vulnerable. Don't wait for the regime to recovery. Hit it hard right now, with an economic blockade. Who knows, it might just crumble.
#USPol
This is the video that has Trump and Hegseth in such a tizzy. Because they know full well they are planning illegal orders.
#uspol
We must only ever refer to it as the JEFFREY EPSTEIN MEMORIAL BALLROOM.
#jeffreyepsteinmemorialballroom #uspol #releasetheepsteinfiles
Hvis man Ÿnsker at vide, hvordan Nazityskland kunne udvikle sig som det gjorde i 1930'erne, kan man bare kigge på USA i dag. Og samtidig spŸrge sig selv, hvorfor amerikanerne ikke i stŸrre stil siger fra, ligesom man efter anden verdenskrig spurgte, hvorfor tyskerne ikke tidligere stoppede vanviddet. #USPol #naziTyskland
Now perhaps might be a good time for the reminder of a truth always obscured:
Black People (not Black "women" -- ALL BLACK PEOPLE - you have to watch how they do black men dirty here) are the practical always-voting correctly BASE of the Democratic party -- which in turn makes them the moral center of voting in America.
#uspol
It's always the ones you most expect.
#uspol
Probably unrelated to the #NationalGuard shooting, but does anyone remember when a US attorney and the FBI paid a sex offender to entrap two Muslim men with histories of mental illness into a terrorist plot, that they then arrested them for? Oh yeah, that happened under Obama.
#USPol
There tends to be this implicit assumption that only the state can provide services to the people. It's endemic to liberals. If authoritarians seize power, the thinking goes, there's nothing we can do.
But we have ample examples of the opposite. Trumpism is a specific type of authoritarianism where the state withdraws to allow corporations to control most things. They get a degree of autonomy and, in exchange, bow to the sovereign.
This is common in South American dictatorships (often those backed and supported by the US). So it can be helpful to look to these as examples of how to deal with that type of regime.
#USPol
That’s some free speech right there. #uspol
I really hope that the Democrats learn from their previous issues and run somebody less conservative for president, next time. (Assuming that there is a next time.)
#Politics #USPolitics #USPol
🤦 Ain’t no way they actually posted this mess. 🤦
#USPol
"Trump calls for end of Senate filibuster to break funding stalemate"
Ah yes, end filibuster to end shutdown, and keep the buster ended for all the grifting and dictating to come. 🤓
#filibuster #uspol #USA #shutdown #strategy #corruption
NBC News: Meet the Press: Zohran Mamdani says he still believes Trump a ‘fascist’ after meeting: Full interview
#uspol
Gosh, Nancy Pelosi is retiring so young! I hope she's saved up enough money for retirement.
#USPOL
One of my top guilty Internet pleasures: Wonkette: #USpol
That’s some free speech right there. #uspol
You ever go to a party at a house you don't know, then someone talks to you and you're like, "oh hey, who are you?" And they're like, "I live here, you're in my house."
That's the way energy liberals bring to antifascism. Like, we're all super glad you're here. Most of us understand why you're late, and we're just glad you finally made it. But like, you're kind of in our house. You didn't invent this shit, but we've been here for a while.
#USPol
Holy Cow, Young Conservatives Are NOT Okay BY The Bulwark
#USPOL
Regime Change begins at home.
#uspol
Pretty interesting read on MTG. She's running for president?
BOMBSHELL: MTG’s Sudden Exit Blindsides GOP Leadership
#uspol
I'm not sure why it took them this long to stand up against the administration. His attacks against churches, hospitals, and schools isn't new.
"'We are troubled by threats against the sanctity of houses of worship and the special nature of hospitals and schools,' the bishops said in a special message, the first of its kind in 12 years."
#Politics #USPolitics #USPol
Pelosi will *not* seek re-election!? This week just keeps getting better…
#USPOL
Reagan's "Welfare Queen" rhetoric was a dog whistle. The whole "southern strategy" was full of dog whistles. Every time Republicans talked about gay marriage as a "states rights" issue, those were dog whistles. Naming a government agency "the Department of Homeland Security" was a dog whistle. Trump's speeches leading up to his first term were full of dog whistles.
Nazis have total control of all branches of government. They've cut off funding to all but the most oppressive elements of the government. There are concentration camps, both in client states (CECOT, among others) and in the US (Alligator Auschwitz, among others). They're actively carrying out ethnic cleansing.
When DHS puts out some Nazi shit, it's not a dog whistle. It's a vuvuzela. They're not trying to signal their intent without any of the "normies" noticing. They actively doing what they wanted to do. It's not a signal because there's nothing to signal. It's a celebration.
#USPol
Release by House Oversight Committee Democrats today include emails between Epstein & Ghislane re: Trump #uspol #EpsteinFiles
Epstein to Maxwell Apr 2, 2011
“i want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is trump..[VICTIM] spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never o…
SCHULTZ!
“I know nothing!!!!”
#uspol #HogansHeros #mikejohnson
Ya know who gets to rename the Department of Defense if anyone does? The US Congress.
Ya know who gets to rename the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts if anyone does? The US Congress.
Ya know who history will never be kind to no matter what he tries to rename? A 79 year old dunce.
#USpol
Fuck Elon and his money! (I was really hoping for more good news this week.)
We absolutely need to destroy the value of every company that asshole is associated with.
#USPOL
Release by House Oversight Committee Democrats today include emails between Epstein & Ghislane re: Trump #uspol #EpsteinFiles
Epstein to Maxwell Apr 2, 2011
“i want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is trump..[VICTIM] spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never o…
Campaign Stream #10: Playing Stray / Face Hurts⭐⭐ !donate !discord by Kat Abughazaleh
#uspol
I heard a comparison where someone said:
The Republicans rob you like a stick-up. They're brazen and open about.
The Democrats rob you like a pick-pocket. They're sneaky and you don't see it happen.
Damn...
#USPOL
While I'm not much for the law, I recognize that not everyone I talk to thinks the same way. But even if you are like me, the enormity of the list of Trump's crimes is just staggering. There really couldn't be any more clear of an illustration of the fact that there are two legal systems: one for the elite, and one for everyone else.
We all know #Trump just does crimes all the time, but it can be hard to track the enormity of it. The YouTube lawyer LegalEagle put together a list and it's pretty incredible. It's a little over 40 minutes of him rapidly listing times that Trump has violated the law during his second term (completely ignoring his first term).
#MassBlackout is a #Boycott of the American corporations that support the dictatorship. By showing
that people have the power to shut down the economy if elites don't listen, we can hit them where it actually hurts.
From now until December 2nd, do as many of these things as you can:
- Stop online or in-store shopping (except for small businesses)
- Stop work
- Stop streaming, cancel subscriptions, no digital purchases
This is one of the few times that boosting stuff on social media and doing nothing else actually *can* make a difference. Boost posts tagged with #WeAintBuyingIt, #MassBlackout, and #BlackOutTheSystem. Make sure everyone you know knows about it. Hold each other accountable to keep from spending. You may already not be spending because.... well,.. Trump has already made everything too expensive. The thing is that elites can't actually tell the difference. Spreading word, making the protest seem as big and impactful as possible is all that's really needed to fracture elites and turn them against each other. Boost, write your own post, make these tags trend on every platform you can, then do nothing.
Don't buy things, (if you can) don't work. Just stop. Refuse to participate in capitalism. This is the ultimate "fuck you, make me" because they absolutely can't make you. This is the ultimate reminder of where power actually comes from.
I've been trying to remind everyone, every day. Please do the same. Keep this opportunity at the top of everyone's mind. Keep it in your mind.
Trump is more vulnerable now than he's ever been, and there is no time in the next year that we have more power than right now. This is one of the most important parts of the year for the US economy. What you do, or don't do, right now has more of an impact than any other time.
#USPol #BlackFriday #CyberMonday
Meet Robby Roadsteamer, The Man Who Trolled ICE by The Bulwark
#uspol
Seems the FBI is not yet ready to take in surrendering forces from fictional terrorist organizations. No word on whether or not they could take surrendering Nazgul, Decepticons or Cobra from GI Joe either.
#USpol #antifacsist
A friend of mine, who I'm pretty sure is left-leaning (meaning, in the US at least, a Democrat) asked me:
"Isn't democratic socialism different from actual socialism?"
Ohhh, where do we begin! But the good thing is, people are asking these questions... Not just straight up condemning "socialism" because of the name.
#USPOL
After #Trump finally crashes and burns (I'm still saying I don't think he makes it to the mid terms, and I think it's more than possible he won't make it to the end of the year) we'll hear a lot of people say, "the system worked!" Today people are already talking about "saving democracy" by fighting back. This will become a big rally cry to vote (for Democrats, specifically), and the complete failure of the system will be held up as the best evidence for even greater investment in it.
I just want to point out that American democracy gave nuclear weapons to a pedophile, who, before being elected was already a well known sexual predator, and who made the campaign promise to commit genocide. He then preceded to commit genocide. And like, I don't care that he's "only" kidnaped and disappeared a few thousand brown people. That's still genocide. Even if you don't kill every member of a targeted group, any attempt to do so is still "committing genocide." Trump said he would commit genocide, then he hired all the "let's go do a race war" guys he could find and *paid* them to go do a race war. And, even now as this deranged monster is crashing out, he is still authorized to use the world's largest nuclear arsenal.
He committed genocide during his first term when his administration separated migrant parents and children, then adopted those children out to other parents. That's technically genocide. The point was to destroy the very people been sending right wing terror squads after.
There was a peaceful hand over of power to a known Russian asset *twice*, and the second time he'd already committed *at least one* act of genocide *and* destroyed cultural heritage sites (oh yeah, he also destroyed indigenous grave sites, in case you forgot, during his first term).
All of this was allowed because the system is set up to protect exactly these types of people, because *exactly* these types of people are *the entire power structure*.
Going back to that system means going back to exactly the system that gave nuclear weapons to a pedophile *TWICE*.
I'm already seeing the attempts to pull people back, the congratulations as we enter the final phase, the belief that getting Trump out will let us all get back to normal. Normal. The normal that lead here in the first place. I can already see the brunch reservations being made. When Trump is over, we will be told we won. We will be told that it's time to go back to sleep.
When they tell you everything worked, everything is better, that we can stop because we won, tell them "fuck you! Never again means never again." Destroy every system that ever gave these people power, that ever protected them from consequences, that ever let them hide what they were doing.
These democrats funded a genocide abroad and laid the groundwork for genocide at home. They protected these predators, for years. The whole power structure is guilty. As these files implicate so many powerful people, they're trying to shove everything back in the box. After all the suffering, after we've finally made it clear that we are the once with the power, only now they're willing to sacrifice Trump to calm us all down.
No, that's a good start but it can't be the end.
Winning can't be enough to quench that rage. Keep it burning. When this is over, let victory fan that anger until every institution that made this possible lies in ashes. Burn it all down and salt the earth. Taking down Trump is a great start, but it's not time to give up until this isn't possible again.
#USPol
JB Pritzker SLAMS Republicans for Caving to Trump by Pod Save America
#uspol
I’m in Chicago, first snowfall. Horrifyingly beautiful.
Beautiful because nature can be wonderful.
Horrifying because humans are too often not.
Nearby, there are federal prisoners in Broadview probably freezing to death tonight.
We each have our challenges, all are real.
May God’s mercy visit and comfort them.
And may His wrath visit their captors.
#USpol
I'm gonna bump this again since it's relevant to #NoKingsDay
#USpol
Wrapping 2025 w/ Jon Favreau & Tim Miller | The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart
#uspol
I keep saying the same thing over and over with my kids: you don't make decisions with your voice, you make them with your body.
"I want to go to the park."
"Ok, put your shoes on."
"I want to go on my play date."
"Put on a jacket and get in the bike."
"I don't want to be late to school."
"I don't control time, if you don't want to be late you have to brush your teeth."
There's a fundamental truth underlying this concept though, one that I hadn't really thought about. On some level, I feel as though, any choice you can't make with your body isn't a real choice. If you're begging someone to do something for you, it's ultimately not something you control.
As I'm compelled, by threat of violence against my family, to pay for war against my comrades and to kill people I don't even know, I think about that. How far is our concept of freedom from the police state we are taught to imagine as the global beacon of liberty. My participation in the violence had always been compulsory.
Perhaps we could do better than just #NoKings.
#USPol
Feckless felonious fool claims he “took the freedom of speech away” when it comes to flag burning. That’s not how this works you sanctimonious prick.
#USpol
Nice graphic from MSNBC
#uspol
Turns out the greatest threat to Americans is American federal security forces.
#USpol
I keep coming back to the mirror dualities of the oppressed and oppressor under authoritarianism.
The oppressed is portrayed as both weak and godlike. The stereotypes are always some variation on sloth and incompetence, but yet somehow also a menace capable of destroying the "pure" society. To use the most relevant current example, Antifa being both little femme soy boys who would always get beat up by "real men" while also being an international terrorist organization on the brink of overthrowing the US government, the unarmed presence of whom makes the heavily armed agents of ICE flee for their lives. Antifa is both having absolutely no impact on ICE, and also having such an impact on ICE that the military needs to come in to protect them. The contradiction is obvious but never seems to occur to those who hold both to be true at the same time.
But few talk about the duality of the oppressor. The sovereign throughout history has always been both a ruler above the law, sometimes even the representative or incarnation of a divine force. Yet, this same superhuman/god-man is also a baby who needs constant care. This is absolutely a through line from the very earliest records of sovereign cults to modern cult leaders, CEOs, and Trump today. Power, for these people, is expressed both as the ability to force others to enact their will and in the ability to compel others to care for them. Can any of these "men" cook? Can they fix anything themselves? They are driven everywhere, cooked for all the time, constantly protected from danger. Kings are still dressed, at least for rituals. I could dissect masculinity here, but that's a whole thing.
It is as though the drive to care for our children, who must be taught to behave within acceptable norms, is hijacked by "leaders" who demand our care and attention... even at the expense of our literal children. And recently we've seen some of those very CEOs, with LLMs and return to office demands, show that their judgment is also little better than children, making decisions while pretending to understand a subject.
The oppressed are portrayed as both god-like and impotent and are, in fact, neither. Meanwhile the rulers portray themselves only as invulnerable and are, in fact, childish in their ability to survive without constant support. Their greatest fear from the collapse of society is figuring out how to make sure people keep taking care of them.
It just keeps rattling around in my head.
#USPol
president participation trophy.
#uspol<…
Introducing The Argument: How To Save Liberalism (Without Being Boring) by Jerusalem Demsas
#uspol
Ciattarelli should run again. he's my fav political opponent ATM.
#newJersey #uspol
Pure fiction.
This senior adviser to potus can’t even see that Oregon’s 6,695 sworn police officers are less numerous than the FBI’s ~13,700 special agents.
Stephen Miller shouldn’t be trusted to advise on a coffee order, let alone government policy. He is out of touch with reality.
Sources in comment.
#USpol
Huh, looks like we got ourselves a hot shop...
#USPol
Trump’s approval rating slips on the economy and immigration:
#USpol
Trump’s 2 Forbidden N-Words! Hegseth’s Military Fat-Shame! Russell Vought’s Odd Dream?! | HIGNFYUS
#uspol
Oh hey, more folks pointing out that the shutdown may just be the goal #USPol
Morbid thought: potus & kegseth want a war w/Venezuela partly to get lithium that is in Venezuela.
You know where else there’s lithium? In potus & kegseth. Each has between 2mg & 7mg of lithium in their bodies.
Like some communist nightmare they use it willy nilly internally. Shall we stop them?
#USpol
ICE Wants to Build Out a 24/7 Social Media Surveillance Team.
#USpol