one big beautiful back‑door abortion ban
A Planned Parenthood clinic, shortly before Congress heroically saved unborn cells by cutting cancer screenings for the people who are already alive.
The Trump administration just scored another "pro-life" victory by making it harder for poor people to stay alive. A federal appeals court has agreed to let the White House cut off Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood in 22 states and DC, greenlighting a provision in the GOP’s hilariously named One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The law targets any tax-exempt organization that provides family planning and also performs abortions if it received more than $800,000 in Medicaid funds in 2023 — otherwise known as "we wrote this for Planned Parenthood and didn’t bother to hide it".
Because nothing says limited government like Congress quietly stuffing a bespoke vendetta into a massive tax-and-spending bill, then retroactively booby-trapping state Medicaid programs. Judge Indira Talwani had blocked the scheme as an unconstitutional, retroactive condition that states couldn’t have anticipated when CMS signed off on their plans — but the First Circuit’s Democratic-appointed panel stepped in to say, actually, Congress can absolutely yank the rug out from under low-income patients whenever it feels like it.
Planned Parenthood says this little act of legislative spite has already helped close at least 20 health centers and could ultimately shutter up to 200 — mostly in blue states where abortion is still technically legal, which is the entire point. Federal dollars already can’t pay for abortions, so the Medicaid reimbursements being cut are for STI tests, cancer screenings, and contraception for over 1.5 million visits a year. In other words, Republicans found a way to make it harder to prevent unwanted pregnancies in the name of stopping abortion, then called it a win for life. But sure, tell us again how this is about "healthcare" and not about punishing women and the poor for existing.
#pro-life#healthcare
doj discovers 'top priority' crimes: embarrassing the trump administration
The Department of Justice, bravely protecting America from the real threat: people who win cases against the Trump administration.
Nothing says "rule of law" like turning your own screw-up into a felony. Newly unsealed court records show that Kilmar Ábrego García, a Salvadoran man who was wrongfully deported and then vindicated by the US supreme court, mysteriously became a "top priority" for the Trump justice department only after he won his case and embarrassed them.
Deputy attorney general Todd Blanche went on Fox News and basically said the quiet part out loud, implying DOJ went after Ábrego because he’d prevailed in his deportation fight. But don’t worry, former acting US attorney Rob McGuire swears he alone decided to prosecute and totally had no vendetta. Unfortunately for that story, Judge Waverly Crenshaw just unsealed an order noting that internal emails show McGuire “reported to others” at DOJ and that the decision to prosecute Ábrego "may have been a joint decision"—with Blanche’s office emailing that they wanted García "charged sooner rather than later" and labeling the case a "top priority" right after the supreme court ruled in his favor.
The supposed crime? A 2022 Tennessee traffic stop where Ábrego was pulled over for speeding, troopers chatted among themselves about human smuggling, then let him go with a warning and no charges. Homeland Security Investigations sat on it for years—until April 2025, days after the supreme court ruling, when suddenly the deputy AG’s office got very interested, demanded a quick indictment, and told prosecutors to hold the draft until they got political "clearance." In other words: win a wrongful deportation case against Trump’s machine, and that machine may come back with federal charges, because nothing screams “independent justice system” like punishing people for making you look incompetent in front of the supreme court.
A hearing on whether this is straight-up vindictive prosecution is set for 28 January. Place your bets on whether the judge decides this was just another totally routine instance of career prosecutors coincidentally aligning with Fox News talking points and the deputy attorney general’s wounded ego.
#killing-democracy#lawlessness#anti-immigration
armchair quarterback put in charge of the fda playbook
Tracy Beth Høeg, freshly promoted from Twitter thread epidemiology to running the FDA’s drug empire, because in Trump’s America the only credential that matters is being mad at vaccines on podcasts.
The Trump administration has decided that the best person to run the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research — the massive division that oversees thousands of drugs, generics, biosimilars, and OTC meds — is… Tracy Beth Høeg, a sports doc turned Covid vaccine contrarian who, as multiple experts point out, has no experience in drug development, regulation, or running a large organization. In other words, she’s wildly unqualified for the job, which in this administration is basically the point.
Høeg is the fifth person to run CDER this year, because nothing says "stable regulatory environment" like leadership musical chairs. She’s closely allied with fellow Covid contrarian Vinay Prasad, and her appointment looks a lot like a consolidation of power by the anti-vaccine brain trust now embedded across the FDA. While the agency is rolling out a sketchy one-day "priority voucher" fast-track for drug approvals in near-total secrecy, it’s simultaneously gearing up to tighten the screws on vaccines and slash long-standing childhood immunization recommendations to mimic Denmark’s schedule — a country that, minor detail, has universal health coverage and the population of Wisconsin.
Høeg’s track record includes a heart-inflammation paper based on unconfirmed crowd-sourced reports, advising Florida’s anti-vax surgeon general Joseph Ladapo (you know, the guy who allegedly altered data to make vaccines look more dangerous), and publicly pushing a "wish list" for the Trump administration that features weakening vaccine regulations and eliminating "unnecessary" vaccines. She’s reportedly proposed excluding young men from Covid vaccination altogether, because why not run a giant uncontrolled public health experiment on half the population. Experts describe her as an ideologue who starts with the conclusion and works backward to retrofit the evidence — which, in this White House, is apparently now the core competency for top health regulators.
Meanwhile, the Department of Health and Human Services insists that her few months as a "senior adviser" on drug safety magically count as the same thing as decades of regulatory, scientific, and management experience. Former FDA leaders warn that CDER is a huge, complex operation where the thing you stop watching is the thing that blows up. But sure, let’s hand it to a revenge-tour Covid contrarian whose main qualification is being furious that her "genius" wasn’t celebrated during the pandemic. What could possibly go wrong when you turn national drug and vaccine policy into a Fox News comment section with security badges?
#anti-science#killing-democracy#forever-grifting
making america kill again
America, 2025: fewer safety nets, more firing squads — but don’t worry, the executions are very “strong and decisive.”
Trump came back to the White House and immediately celebrated by signing an executive order titled “Restoring the death penalty” — because nothing says law and order like nearly doubling state killings to the highest level in 16 years while public support hits a 50-year low. Forty-seven men were executed in 2025, turning the US into a blood-soaked outlier among developed countries. But sure, tell us again about “American exceptionalism.”
The message from Trump’s DOJ was crystal clear: kill more people. Federal prosecutors greenlit over 20 new capital cases and death-penalty states got the memo. Florida, under Ron DeSantis’ personal vengeance LARP, rocketed from one execution in 2024 to nineteen in 2025, smashing its own record and leapfrogging Texas in the race to the moral bottom. Alabama, South Carolina, and Texas eagerly joined in, with 12 states in total firing up their death chambers like it’s a jobs program for executioners.
And because plain old lethal injection apparently wasn’t dystopian enough, states started experimenting like Dr. Mengele with a procurement budget. Louisiana used nitrogen gas to slowly suffocate a prisoner who shook for minutes while witnesses watched, and South Carolina brought back the firing squad — including one botched execution where the shooters missed the heart, likely prolonging the man’s suffering. Totally normal justice system stuff.
Hovering above it all is Trump’s remodeled supreme court, now so hard-right it can’t be bothered to pretend to care whether executions are unconstitutional, cruel, or maybe killing the wrong person. The court denied every single request to stay an execution this year, effectively shredding the last safety net between the state and the needle, gas mask, or bullet. In other words: the government is killing more people, in more sadistic ways, with fewer checks, against the will of the public — but hey, at least the “pro-life” crowd can sleep soundly.
#killing-democracy#lawlessness#fascism
microsoft gives china a backstage pass to the pentagon, trump pretends to fix it
Stock photo of a Pentagon server rack, presumably labeled: "Totally Secure, Except For The Part Where Microsoft Outsourced It To China."
For nearly a decade, Microsoft apparently decided that the best way to secure the Pentagon’s most sensitive cloud systems was to let China-based engineers work on them, then slap a few underqualified U.S. "digital escorts" on top as a fig leaf. Because nothing says "national security" like a corporate workaround to avoid the pesky requirement that people handling defense data be U.S. citizens or permanent residents.
After ProPublica did the job the Pentagon allegedly didn’t know it needed to do, the Defense Department suddenly discovered this might be bad, updated its cybersecurity rules, and now Trump has signed a law to ban anyone in China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea from direct or indirect access to DoD cloud systems. In other words, they’ve finally decided that the world’s leading cyber adversaries probably shouldn’t be backstage at the Pentagon’s IT show.
Microsoft, which conveniently "left out" its China-based operations and foreign engineers from a 2025 security plan submitted to DoD, is now declining comment while promising to "work with our national security partners"—a phrase that here means "please don’t cancel the contracts." Meanwhile, Pete Hegseth is thundering on X about how foreign engineers should never touch DoD systems, and Elise Stefanik and Tom Cotton are declaring this a huge "win" for security, as if Congress didn’t just discover that Big Tech had been speedrunning a "national betrayal" for years under their noses.
The new law also forces the Pentagon to brief Congress on cybersecurity controls and incidents, which is adorable coming from the same institution that only learned about Microsoft’s little escort program because ProPublica told them. But sure, now that the barn’s empty and the horses are in Shanghai, we’re installing a really excellent lock.
#national-security#corruption
trump declares war on fentanyl, addicts, and math
Trump proudly displays the executive order declaring fentanyl a “weapon of mass destruction,” finally bringing weapons-of-mass-destruction-level stupidity to domestic drug policy.
In year one of his comeback tour, Trump took a Biden-era public health response that was actually reducing overdose deaths and replaced it with a loud, shiny drug war reboot, because nothing says “I care about the opioid crisis” like cutting treatment and sending in the Navy. Biden’s team poured tens of billions into medication-assisted treatment, harm reduction, Medicaid coverage, and housing — and overdose deaths started dropping in 2023 and 2024. Trump looked at that modest success and said, essentially, “what if we tried the 1980s again, but dumber?”
So now fentanyl is officially labeled a “weapon of mass destruction,” cartels are designated terrorist organizations, National Guard troops are patrolling U.S. cities and the border, and the Navy is launching strikes on alleged drug boats — all while the administration temporarily froze $140 million in addiction treatment grants and threw basic public health programs into chaos. In other words, we’re criminalizing illness, militarizing domestic policy, and starving the people actually keeping addicts alive. Trump even claimed “three hundred million people died last year from drugs,” which is impressive, since that’s basically the entire U.S. population. But sure, let’s trust that guy with WMD classifications and troop deployments.
The result: a sweeping pivot from treating fentanyl deaths as a health crisis to treating them as a justification for more cops, more troops, more executive power, and fewer services. It’s the classic Trump formula — less science, more guns — sold as tough-on-crime leadership while quietly dismantling the only strategies that were working. Because why save lives with boring medicine when you can posture on TV with a big executive order and pretend you’re fighting ISIS instead of addiction?
#killing-democracy#fascism#anti-science
trump unveils proudly american phone, forgets to unveil the phone
Artist’s impression of the Trump T1: a gold brick with an American flag on it, functionally identical to the actual product currently in customers’ hands.
Trump Mobile – the latest entry in the “how many ways can we cash in on the presidency” cinematic universe – has delayed its big, shiny, $499 gold-colored smartphone, the T1. The company, which licensed the Trump name to slap on a phone and service plan, now says there’s a “strong possibility” customers won’t see their devices this month, blaming the government shutdown Trump helped create for disrupting shipments. Because nothing says competent business genius like failing to deliver a product you already took $100 deposits for and then pointing at your own administration’s chaos as the excuse.
The T1 is marketed as a “proudly American” rival to Apple and Samsung, which is adorable given that almost no smartphones are actually manufactured in the US and no one seems to know who would even build this thing. But sure, it’s etched with an American flag, so that’s basically a supply chain. The phone was first promised for August, then vaguely pushed to “later this year,” while customers are still required to cough up $100 just to reserve the privilege of maybe, someday, receiving a gold Trump rectangle.
Trump Mobile also offers a $47.45 monthly phone plan – a price point chosen to worship Trump’s status as the 47th president, because when you’re building a cult of personality, even your billing has to be a campaign ad. The venture is run by Donald Jr and Eric, naturally, and joins Trump-branded watches, shoes, and Bibles in the ever-expanding MAGA QVC catalog. According to financial disclosures, these licensing deals pulled in more than $8m for Trump in 2024 alone, all while his administration oversees the very federal agencies that regulate telecom and digital media. In other words: regulatory power on one hand, phone company cash in the other – but we’re definitely still pretending there’s a meaningful separation between the presidency and the family business.
#forever-grifting#corruption
trump discovers veto pen, immediately uses it for spite and racism
Trump, freshly reminded what a veto pen is, prepares to use it on clean water and tribal land—because why waste raw spite on anything less?
Trump’s second-term veto era has begun, and—shocking absolutely no one—it’s fueled by revenge, cruelty, and a light dusting of racism. He just vetoed two bipartisan bills that sailed through Congress by voice vote. One would finish a long-delayed pipeline to bring clean drinking water to rural southeastern Colorado. The other would expand the Miccosukee Tribe’s reserved area in Florida to include part of Everglades National Park. In other words: help people get water, and honor tribal land rights. Naturally, Trump killed both.
For the Colorado bill, Trump suddenly cosplayed as a deficit hawk, declaring “enough is enough” on supposedly “expensive and unreliable policies” and “taxpayer handouts.” Because nothing says fiscal responsibility like cutting off clean water to rural communities while shoveling tax breaks at billionaires and defense contractors. Even Rep. Lauren Boebert, who sponsored the bill, is mad at him—when you’ve lost Lauren “what if we armed the furniture” Boebert on a basic infrastructure bill, you might not be the populist hero you think you are.
The Miccosukee bill is where it goes fully on-brand authoritarian. Trump vetoed their Everglades land expansion because, he claims, the tribe is trying “to obstruct reasonable immigration policies that the American people decisively voted for when I was elected.” So the president is openly using federal power to punish a Native American tribe over his immigration agenda—weaponizing the veto against a sovereign tribe’s land rights as political retribution. Because nothing screams ‘constitutional conservative’ like turning tribal sovereignty and public lands into a hostage situation for your border tantrums.
Trump vetoed ten bills in his first term and only got overridden once. Now he’s back, immediately treating bipartisan, low-drama legislation on water and tribal land as targets in his never-ending “revenge tour,” as Sen. Michael Bennet accurately put it. Congress could override him with two-thirds votes in both chambers. We’ll see if anyone in the GOP is willing to cross Dear Leader to give people drinking water and respect Native land—or if rural Colorado and the Miccosukee Tribe just learned the hard way what happens when you live in Trump’s America.
#killing-democracy#retribution
stable genius can't tell a bald eagle from a dead israeli falcon
Pictured: not a bald eagle, not in America, but absolutely good enough for White House–approved propaganda.
Donald Trump, bravely fighting renewable energy from the front lines of his Florida resort, took a break from golf to post a photo of a dead bird under a wind turbine and declare: “Windmills are killing all of our beautiful Bald Eagles!” The White House’s official X account dutifully blasted it out to over a million followers, because nothing says serious governance like state-amplified bird fan fiction.
Tiny problem: the bird is not a bald eagle, and the turbine is not in the United States. It’s a falcon, killed eight years ago at a wind farm in Israel, helpfully labeled with Hebrew writing Trump somehow missed while he was busy LARPing as Audubon. The photo traces back to Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority and a 2017 Haaretz report – you know, the sort of basic fact-checking one of the 18 US intelligence agencies that report to him could have done in about 30 seconds if anyone in this administration cared about reality more than rage engagement.
In other words, the president of the United States used a foreign, misidentified carcass to stir up American nationalist outrage against wind power, and the official White House comms shop just hit retweet. But sure, tell us again how fake news is the real problem and how this crew is laser-focused on “energy dominance” and “patriotism” while they can’t even correctly ID the national bird.
#killing-democracy#full-stupid
trump hhs sees viral video, decides poor kids don’t need daycare
Pictured: the moment a viral video officially replaced audits, due process, and basic governance at Trump’s HHS.
The Trump administration just discovered a bold new oversight tool: TikTok. HHS announced it is freezing all federal child care payments to Minnesota because a right-wing influencer posted a viral video about alleged fraud. No numbers, no scope, no details on how much money is being frozen—just vibes, a ring light, and an X video from Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill and Assistant Secretary Alex Adams. Because nothing says "responsible governance" like turning off the child care spigot for an entire state based on internet content.
The FBI, led by Kash Patel (because of course it is), says it had already "surged" resources to Minnesota to investigate alleged fraud at child care facilities, an effort that has "largely targeted Somali immigrants." Important detail: the big $250 million fraud case Minnesota is known for? That was a child nutrition scheme prosecuted under Biden, and the mastermind, Aimee Bock, is white and already convicted. So naturally, the Trump team’s response is to publicly dog-whistle about Somali communities while punishing every low-income parent in Minnesota who relies on federal subsidies so they can, you know, go to work.
In other words, instead of quietly tightening audits or waiting for actual indictments, HHS decided to launch a nationwide crackdown and cut off Minnesota entirely, then announce it via social media like it’s a merch drop. No one can say how much funding is frozen, but the message is clear: if a right-wing influencer points a camera at your state, your kids’ daycare is now collateral damage in the content war. But sure, tell us again how this is about "stopping fraud" and not about performative cruelty, racial scapegoating, and flexing federal power over blue states.
#killing-democracy#racism#forever-grifting
commander-in-chief of not-reading-the-constitution escalates venezuela strikes
Trump, moments before explaining that Article II lets him do whatever he wants to Venezuela, Congress, and reality.
Trump is apparently escalating strikes on Venezuela and, according to a House Democrat, has made it clear he “doesn’t want to deal with Congress.” Because nothing says "constitutional republic" like the guy with the nukes deciding that checks and balances are for losers and people who read.
In other words, the president is treating Congress’s war powers like he treats subpoenas, oversight, and basic ethics rules: as optional suggestions from the help. While missiles fly and tensions escalate, the legislative branch is once again relegated to watching it all unfold on cable news like the rest of us.
So we’ve now reached the part of the show where foreign policy is run on pure vibes and executive ego. The Framers imagined spirited debate before military action; Trump imagines a TV hit, a rally chant, and maybe a new hat. But sure, tell us again how this is all about restoring American greatness and not about one guy discovering that bombing another country is the one thing he can still do without anyone telling him no.
#killing-democracy#imperialism#lawlessness
trump admin discovers new legal theory: 'what if we just ignore the law'
Russell Vought explains that the government is simply too poor to regulate banks, but somehow always rich enough to keep shoveling money at them.
DC district judge Amy Berman Jackson just had to explain, in writing, that the Trump administration does not get to personally decide which laws and agencies exist, no matter how many Office of Legal Counsel memos they crank out to say otherwise. Russell Vought, currently cosplaying as CFPB acting director while trying to kill the agency, claimed the Federal Reserve was too broke to fund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Jackson politely noted this "crisis" was completely manufactured by the defendants and that funding has been flowing just fine even while the Fed ran at a loss.
This is the second time in a year the court has had to block Team Trump from dismantling the CFPB and mass-firing its workforce, after the National Treasury Employees Union sued to stop the slow-motion execution of the only federal agency whose job is "stop banks from robbing people in broad daylight." Jackson spelled it out: the "only new circumstance" is the administration’s determination to erase a congressionally created watchdog "with the stroke of a pen" while the case is literally before the DC Circuit. In other words, the White House is trying to nullify Congress and the courts because nothing says "constitutional conservative" like pretending separation of powers is optional.
Elizabeth Warren, who helped create the CFPB, pointed out that the agency has returned $21 billion directly to Americans cheated by big banks and giant corporations—so naturally Trump’s people are desperate to shut it down before it can stop any more corporate looting. The judge’s order forces the administration to keep the money flowing so the bureau can, bare minimum, pay its employees and continue existing. The White House, having just been told it can’t unilaterally erase a law it doesn’t like, declined to comment—probably busy workshopping its next "novel workaround" for killing consumer protections without technically admitting it’s siding with the scammers.
#killing-democracy#corruption#lawlessness
richard grenell discovers jazz hates fascism
The newly christened Trump-Kennedy Center, seen here repelling musicians the way a bug zapper repels moths with cease-and-desist letters.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts — once a monument to American culture — is now the Trump-Kennedy Center, because nothing says "arts" like slapping the name of a twice-impeached coup enthusiast on the building. In response, yet another act, the legendary jazz septet The Cookers, has bailed on their New Year’s Eve gig, politely reminding everyone that jazz was born from "struggle" and "freedom" — you know, all the stuff Trumpism keeps trying to stomp out.
They join drummer Chuck Redd, folk singer Kristy Lee, and Doug Varone and Dancers, all of whom decided they’d rather not help launder the reputation of a man and a board that saxophonist Billy Harper describes as representing "overt racism and deliberate destruction of African American music and culture." In other words: the talent noticed the fascist branding and headed for the exits.
Enter Trump-appointed Kennedy Center president Richard Grenell, who responded in the most on-brand way possible: by threatening to sue a jazz musician for $1 million for canceling a gig and calling it a "political stunt" and "classic intolerance." Because nothing screams "the arts are for everyone" like trying to financially crush a drummer for not wanting to play under a giant Trump sign. Grenell also ranted that previous leadership booked "far left political activists" instead of "artists willing to perform for everyone," which is a very elegant way of saying: no one good wants to play our new fascism-flavored arts center.
So now DC’s historic Black cultural scene — in the city that gave us Duke Ellington, Marvin Gaye, and go-go — is watching a once-respected institution get turned into a shrine to one extremely fragile ego. Artists are voting with their feet, the board is doubling down, and the Trump-Kennedy Center is rapidly becoming what it deserves to be: a very expensive, taxpayer-subsidized reminder that authoritarian branding and actual art do not mix.
#killing-democracy#fascism#forever-grifting
judge temporarily blocks kristi noem’s ethnic cleansing internship
Kristi Noem, bravely declaring South Sudan safe from behind a podium in Washington, where the closest thing to a war zone is a CNN green room.
The Trump administration’s Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem tried to celebrate the new year by shoving a few hundred South Sudanese migrants onto a plane back to an active crisis zone, but a federal judge in Boston rudely interrupted the deportation party. Judge Angel Kelley granted an emergency request to stop DHS from letting Temporary Protected Status for South Sudan expire on 5 January, because apparently you’re not supposed to use federal immigration policy as a live-action Risk board.
DHS had insisted that thanks to “renewed peace” and “safe reintegration,” South Sudan was totally fine now – which is an interesting take on a country the US State Department still tells Americans not to travel to. The lawsuit, filed by four South Sudanese TPS holders and African Communities Together, notes the actual reality: ongoing conflict, humanitarian disaster, and a government that is not magically prepared to absorb deportees just because Kristi Noem wants a Fox News hit about getting “tough” on brown people.
TPS has protected South Sudanese nationals since 2011, giving about 232 people work authorization and a reprieve from being shipped back into chaos, with another 73 applications pending. Noem decided that was a bridge too humane, moving not just to end protections for South Sudan but also for immigrants from Syria, Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba, and Nicaragua – a list that, by pure cosmic coincidence, is overwhelmingly non-white. The lawsuit says the move violates the TPS statute, ignores the on-the-ground humanitarian nightmare, and is driven by racial discrimination in violation of the Fifth Amendment.
In other words, the administration tried to quietly downgrade “temporary protected status” to “temporary until Kristi Noem feels racist enough,” and the courts once again had to step in and explain that immigration policy is not supposed to be a whites-only fantasy league. But sure, tell us again how this is all about the rule of law.
#anti-immigration#racism#killing-democracy
trump’s maximum pressure, minimum brain iran strategy
Donald Trump staring at a map of Iran upside down, convinced this time the sanctions will definitely work.
The Iranian foreign minister just published what is basically a polite open letter to Donald Trump explaining, very slowly and with small words, that you can’t bomb your way to a peace deal. Israel’s Netanyahu finally got his wish and pulled the US into a direct war with Iran, and in return Israel got to discover what happens when you poke the regional power that’s ten times your size and not especially amused. The myth of Israel’s military invincibility? Shattered. But sure, tell us again how this was all about "security".
Araghchi walks through how Trump’s first-term tantrum—tearing up the 2015 nuclear deal in favor of "maximum pressure"—was built on Tel Aviv fan fiction: Iran on the brink of collapse, sanctions as a magic regime-change wand, and the JCPOA as some kind of lifeline instead of the only thing keeping a lid on the nuclear file. Reality check: Trump got "maximum resistance" instead, plus a region-wide war, a dead Abraham Accords project, and US allies quietly realizing that writing Israel blank checks is a great way to light their own countries on fire.
Now, with the US bogged down in yet another Middle East mess, Iran is basically saying: look, you’re not going to defeat us militarily, but if you’d like to stop faceplanting, we can talk like adults. The conditions? Treat Iran as a sovereign state, stop demanding surrender disguised as "negotiations", and actually lift sanctions in a verifiable way. In other words, do the opposite of everything the Trump brain trust has done so far. Because nothing says "art of the deal" like blowing up the working deal you already had, starting a regional war, and then being invited—again—to just try basic diplomacy.
#imperialism#killing-democracy
trump turns naturalization ceremonies into deportation pregame show
USCIS officers at the ‘cradle of liberty’ carefully separating the ‘right’ kind of Americans from the ones who followed all the rules but had the wrong birthplace.
At Boston’s Faneuil Hall – the so‑called “cradle of liberty” – USCIS staff walked down the line of would‑be new Americans and asked a simple question: where were you born? If your answer matched one of Trump’s 19 banned countries, congratulations, you got pulled out of line and sent home instead of getting sworn in. Years of vetting, thousands of dollars, and a legal right to citizenship? Too bad, the Dear Leader changed his mind.
This isn’t a one‑off screw‑up; it’s policy. A 5 December USCIS memo ordered a freeze on immigration proceedings – green cards, naturalization interviews, and oath ceremonies – for nationals of those 19 countries, allegedly because an Afghan man, previously granted asylum by the same government now freaking out, shot two National Guard members. In response, the agency blasted out emails saying oath ceremonies were canceled due to “unforeseen circumstances,” as if this was a surprise rainstorm and not a deliberate act of state discrimination.
The human fallout is exactly what the administration ordered. A Haitian nursing assistant who has lived in the US for nearly 25 years, a Libyan doctor developing AI tools to fight lung cancer, Afghans who risked their lives working with the US military – all suddenly told that the finish line doesn’t count because of their passport. Advocates report mass cancellations in at least 16 cities, while terrified applicants refuse to speak publicly, afraid ICE will turn their shattered American dream into a removal order.
And in case it wasn’t obvious, this is the plan. As one advocate notes, Trump started by demonizing undocumented immigrants and is now moving on to people with legal status and even those on the brink of citizenship. In other words, the message from Trump’s America is clear: you can serve the US, work here for a decade, follow every rule, and still get treated like a security threat because of your birthplace. But sure, tell us again how this is about “security” and not a slow, bureaucratic purge of the wrong kinds of future voters.
#anti-immigration#killing-democracy
congress speedruns oligarchy in one fiscal year
The Republican Congress, seen here proudly autographing a trillion-dollar Pentagon budget and a mass deportation fund, pauses briefly to insist this is all about freedom and fiscal discipline.
The Republican Congress celebrated Trump’s second term by doing what it does best: shoveling money to the rich, militarizing everything that moves, and rewriting the rules to make sure nobody can stop them next time. Trump’s “big, beautiful” tax bill is now permanent, because nothing says fiscal responsibility like locking in a $4.5 trillion tax cut that disproportionately benefits the highest earners while everyone else gets the patriotic honor of paying for it later.
But wait, there’s more: the bill rockets the Pentagon over the $1 trillion mark and tosses in $170 billion to supercharge ICE raids and mass deportations, turning immigration policy into a federally funded terror campaign. To help pay for this, they took a chainsaw to Medicaid and clean energy funding—because if there’s one thing Republicans hate more than poor people getting health care, it’s the planet not being on fire.
Meanwhile, Congress went on a deregulation bender, using the Congressional Review Act like a legislative wood chipper to shred 22 Biden-era rules on everything from consumer protection to cybersecurity. Then Senate Republicans decided minority rights were cute but inconvenient, nuking rules to ram through Trump nominees in giant en-bloc batches and creatively redefining what 51 votes can do. In other words, they’re not just passing laws—they’re rebuilding the system so the next round of looting and authoritarian cosplay is even easier.
#killing-democracy#oligarchy#forever-grifting
zelensky says relationship with trump has 'evolved,' translation: shouting to politely pretending putin is nice
Zelensky stands next to Trump at a press conference, trying to sell "peace" while mentally speed-running contingencies for when the guy next to him decides Putin just wants everyone to succeed and maybe own eastern Ukraine forever.
Volodymyr Zelensky politely confirmed that his relationship with Donald Trump has "evolved" – which is a very diplomatic way of saying it went from a shouting match in the Oval Office with Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance to a forced-smiles photo op at Mar-a-Lago. Because nothing says "stable American foreign policy" like screaming at an ally one month and then insisting you're best friends the next, live from the Florida chandelier bunker.
On Fox News, Zelensky joked "Who can convince him?" when asked whether he was trying to sway Trump on a peace plan – a line that doubles as the unofficial motto of every NATO capital these days. Trump, meanwhile, is out there claiming "Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed" and will help rebuild it, which is a fascinating take given that Zelensky, the guy whose country is actually being invaded, says Putin "doesn’t want success for Ukraine" and just wants to avoid more U.S. sanctions. In other words, Trump is once again confidently repeating the vibe Putin apparently gives him on the phone, while the actual victim of the war stands next to him looking "briefly puzzled" on camera.
So we now have the U.S. president publicly selling a fantasy where Russia is eager to help rebuild the country it’s been bombing, while Zelensky is stuck doing diplomatic hostage theater, thanking Trump on X for "support" and "vision" even as he has to gently contradict him on basic reality. It’s a perfect snapshot of Trump-era foreign policy: allies forced to smile and nod while the president ad-libs global security strategy based on whatever an autocrat told him last, but sure, tell us more about how American leadership is "back."
#killing-democracy#national-security
mar-a-lago peace summit: disarm or 'hell to pay,' occupation optional
Vigil for Ran Gvili’s remains, which Netanyahu is now treating as a human shield for indefinite occupation while Trump nods along from the dessert course at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump hosted Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago for what was billed as a Gaza peace check-in and quickly turned it into a joint press conference on why international law is for other people. Trump warned Hamas there would be “hell to pay” if it didn’t disarm on schedule, while carefully describing Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza as a “separate subject” they’d maybe talk about later. Because nothing says good-faith ceasefire like turning one side’s obligations into divine commandment and the other side’s into a vague calendar suggestion.
Netanyahu, in turn, announced that Trump will receive the Israel Prize, the country’s highest civilian honor, which has literally never gone to a non-Israeli before. So the man who’s “not concerned about anything that Israel is doing” while it sits on 53% of Gaza is being given a lifetime achievement award in looking the other way. Trump’s own officials are reportedly exasperated that Netanyahu keeps undermining the ceasefire and stalling the second phase of the plan, but Trump went with: Israel has lived up to the plan “100%” and he’s “not concerned about anything” they do. In other words: the State Department has a peace process, and the president has vibes.
The supposed next phase includes a technocratic Palestinian authority and an international stabilization force, both of which Netanyahu opposes, so he’s now hanging the entire process on the return of one last hostage’s remains – a very real family tragedy being repurposed as an extremely convenient delay tactic. Analysts openly say he has no intention of pulling out or allowing any force that might stop Israeli military action, but sure, the problem is Hamas’ timetable for handing over rifles. Meanwhile, Trump is on-camera falsely claiming that “just about” every hostage was released because of him and that none came out under Biden, a lie so lazy even Snopes had to get involved.
So the “peace” plan currently looks like this: Trump threatens that if Hamas doesn’t meet its end of the deal, other countries will “go in and wipe out Hamas,” while he shrugs at indefinite Israeli control of more than half of Gaza and hands Netanyahu a domestic political prize wrapped in a Mar-a-Lago photo op. It’s less a ceasefire framework and more an infomercial for permanent occupation, but with better catering and worse fact-checking.
#killing-democracy#imperialism
stable genius wants to sue the fed for hurting his feelings
Trump explains monetary policy to Jerome Powell by threatening to fire him and bragging about his $400 million inauguration ballroom.
Donald Trump, standing next to Benjamin Netanyahu like it’s an Axis of Impunity reunion tour, used a press conference to call Fed chair Jerome Powell a “fool” and muse about firing him and suing him for “gross incompetence” – because nothing says independent central bank like the president threatening to can the guy who won’t juice the economy hard enough for your re‑election party. He again lied about the cost of the Federal Reserve’s building renovation, nearly doubling the real $2.5bn figure to $4.1bn, then declared it “the highest price in the history of construction,” which is an interesting take from a man whose own businesses have specialized in overbilling, underdelivering, and occasionally not existing.
Trump also forgot to mention the tiny detail that he was the one who first appointed Powell in 2018, instead blaming Biden for reappointing “a fool” – a convenient bout of amnesia from the self-proclaimed hiring genius whose administration was basically a revolving door of future defendants. He then contrasted the Fed project with his own “magnificent, big, beautiful ballroom” replacing the demolished East Wing, bragging that it’s “under budget and ahead of schedule” before immediately admitting the cost has jumped from $200m to $400m. In other words: Powell is incompetent because his numbers are real; Trump is a visionary because his numbers are made up on the fly.
Having now decided the new ballroom will host the inauguration, Trump blamed the doubled price on “all bullet-proof glass” and a “drone-free roof,” as if the Fed’s problem is not inflation but insufficient gold plating. Meanwhile, he keeps dangling the idea that he “might still” fire Powell and is openly salivating over picking the next Fed chair in January – presumably someone willing to run monetary policy off a Truth Social poll. But sure, tell us more about how the real threat to democracy is technocrats quietly trying to keep the economy from turning into a meme stock.
#killing-democracy#forever-grifting
