house gop hauls jack smith in for the crime of investigating crimes
Jack Smith arriving on Capitol Hill, bravely choosing to walk into a room full of House Republicans who think the real crime was prosecuting crimes.
Jack Smith, former special counsel and current designated public enemy of Mar-a-Lago, is heading to Capitol Hill to explain to House Republicans why he committed the unforgivable Washington sin of trying to hold a president accountable for crimes. Smith oversaw two federal indictments of Trump — neither of which ever reached a jury because Trump did the most on-brand thing possible and just won back the presidency before the trials could happen. Because nothing says "totally innocent" like needing presidential power as your main legal defense strategy.
In a previously released deposition, Smith committed further heresy by stating the obvious: that Trump was "by a large measure the most culpable" in the conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election and that the January 6 attack wouldn’t have happened without him. Smith’s prepared remarks spell out the radical position that "no one should be above the law" — a cute little civics notion that went out the window around the time 140 cops were getting beaten at the Capitol while Republicans were workshopping the phrase "tourist visit." Meanwhile, Trump is bragging at press conferences about having fired most of the DOJ prosecutors and FBI agents who worked on the case, listing the purge as an accomplishment, because nothing screams "rule of law" like turning the Justice Department into a loyalty program.
Trump, ever subtle, is calling Smith "deranged Jack Sick Smith" and a "sick son of a bitch," while openly fantasizing about criminally investigating him or kicking him out of the country — in other words, the standard authoritarian starter pack. Smith will also have to tiptoe around the classified-documents investigation, where the FBI found sensitive materials in the ballroom, the bathroom, and the office at Trump’s Florida resort, a.k.a. America’s least secure self-storage facility. The second volume of Smith’s report on that little mishandling-of-secrets adventure is being blocked from release by Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee who has apparently decided that the best way to restore faith in the judiciary is to act like Trump’s in-house compliance department.
#killing-democracy#retribution#lawlessness
trump discovers price controls, wall street discovers panic attacks
Jamie Dimon patiently explaining to Davos billionaires that, no, the president cannot just tweet a usury law into existence… probably.
Donald Trump has decided he can regulate the entire consumer credit market by simply posting about it on Truth Social, because of course he has. The president announced that, effective 20 January, he is "calling for" a one‑year cap on credit card interest rates at 10%, without bothering with minor details like legislation, regulatory authority, or how any of this would be, you know, legal. Markets promptly freaked out, because nothing says "stable business climate" like the guy with the nuclear codes also doing improv monetary policy in his social media replies.
Wall Street’s favorite almost-Democrat, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, popped up at Davos to warn that the plan would be an "economic disaster" that would cut off credit for 80% of Americans, but reassured everyone that JPMorgan would "survive" just fine. In other words: the banks will be okay, your water bill might not. Banking trade groups are screaming that a cap would drive people into "less regulated, more costly alternatives"—which is a very polite way of saying "loan sharks, but with apps." Meanwhile Trump cheerfully admits he’s getting calls from credit card execs who are "friends" that he "treats good," while insisting they now have to "give people a break." So yes, the president is openly bragging that his buddies who’ve been quietly gouging Americans are upset he might slightly limit the gouging for a year.
The end result: investors in Visa, Mastercard, AmEx and even Barclays take a hit, consumers get whiplash, and Trump gets to cosplay as Bernie Sanders for 24 hours without doing any of the boring work of actually passing a law. The banks warn of devastation, Trump warns of rip‑offs, and no one mentions that the real governing here is being done by whatever half‑baked idea happens to cross his feed that morning. But sure, tell us more about how the adults are back in charge.
#full-stupid#money
voters want less chaos, still voting for more chaos
A snowy Main Street in Trump country, where nothing is getting better but at least the authoritarian is "our" authoritarian.
NPR took a winter road trip through Trump country to discover that, shockingly, people who voted for Trump still like Trump. Along the way, they found voters who say prices are killing them, "yay" hasn’t happened yet, and nothing has actually improved in their lives — but the Democratic Party is "broken" and "dead," so obviously the only solution is four more years of the guy who’s already in charge.
In Maryland, Ann Marie Hamilton loves Trump but notes that groceries and electric bills still sting like crazy. In Pennsylvania, waitress Tina Howell says things are actually getting tighter for people, and Trump is too focused overseas — but still insists he’s great and Democrats are not an option. In other words: the house is on fire, but the fire alarm is "too woke."
By the time NPR gets to Whitehall, New York, former Marine Frank Juckett gives Trump a solid B+ while casually comparing his style to Vladimir Putin and praising the idea that if you’re "really good and crooked, things get done." Because nothing says "healthy democracy" like openly admiring a strongman as long as he steps on the right people. Everyone interviewed admits they want less chaos, less drama, and better economics — and then promises to keep backing the chaos engine that’s using federal power to crack down on immigrants and "shake the foundations of American democracy." But sure, it’s all about grocery prices.
The big takeaway: even when Trump’s own voters say it isn’t working, they’re still on board with the power grabs and bullying. The policy results may be a mess, but the authoritarian vibes are immaculate.
#killing-democracy#fascism
trump tries imperialism speedrun, yells at allies when they read the patch notes
Donald Trump studies a Risk board, mistakes it for the State Department briefing, and demands tariffs until someone hands him Greenland.
Donald Trump is now speed‑running the collapse of the postwar order by threatening to annex Canada, menacing Denmark over Greenland, and slapping punitive tariffs on allies for the crime of respecting each other’s sovereignty. Because nothing says "leader of the free world" like shouting "gimme your island" at NATO members and then throwing a tariff tantrum when they decline.
Mark Carney, now Canadian prime minister thanks in part to Trump’s helpful "maybe we’ll just annex you" campaign ad, is in Davos calmly explaining that the US is vandalizing the rules‑based order and that "middle powers" need to build new coalitions from the rubble Trump leaves behind. In other words: while Washington is busy live‑streaming its own credibility bonfire, everyone else has to figure out how not to get burned.
Over in London, Keir Starmer is trying the "quiet diplomacy" thing — praising "calm discussion" after Trump threatens tariffs for backing Danish sovereignty over Greenland, then getting called "stupid" for returning the Chagos Islands to Mauritius in line with, you know, international law and prior US approval. Starmer mildly pushes back; Trump responds with more public bullying, because the whole point is to show that treaties, allies, and prior commitments mean nothing next to the vibes of the moment.
The Guardian’s gentle conclusion: this mid‑Atlantic tightrope act is dead. You can’t simultaneously hug the guy who’s wrecking NATO, menacing allies with trade guns, and treating other countries like collectible map DLC, and still pretend we’re in the old rules‑based world. Someone has to "name reality" — that the US president is running an openly transactional, low‑rent imperialism cosplay — or Britain and the rest of the "middle powers" will keep discovering the hard way that quiet diplomacy doesn’t work on a man who only hears tariffs and flattery.
#imperialism#killing-democracy
trump flies to davos to campaign against… minnesota
Trump in Davos, bravely warning billionaires about the grave threat posed by… Somali families in Minnesota.
Nothing says ‘serious global statesman’ like jetting to the World Economic Forum and using your time with world leaders to attack Somali immigrants and the state of Minnesota. While everyone else in Davos is talking about things like monetary policy and climate risk, Trump is apparently running a one-man Fox News segment, recycling his greatest hits about scary refugees and that one midwestern state that had the audacity to elect Ilhan Omar.
Trump “continues to target Somalians and Minnesota,” because when you’ve got nothing on jobs, health care, or inequality, you can always fall back on demonizing Black and Muslim immigrants and implying one of your own states is basically a failed territory. In other words, the President of the United States went to a global economic summit to tell the world that a chunk of his own country is an immigrant-infested disaster zone—and that this is somehow a selling point for his leadership.
This isn’t policy, it’s propaganda. You whip up fear about Somali communities, then point to the fear you caused as proof you were right all along. It’s the same playbook that gave us the Muslim ban, family separations, and a permanent campaign against anyone who doesn’t fit the MAGA demographic profile. But sure, tell us again how this is about ‘security’ and ‘values,’ not about turning a religious minority and an entire state into permanent villains for electoral profit.
#killing-democracy#racism#anti-immigration
tom emmer teaches the freedom caucus to love big, beautiful debt
Tom Emmer explains how you can go from "hell no" to "yes, sir, Mr. Trump" in just one phone call.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer has discovered a revolutionary new governing philosophy: massive Trump-branded spending and debt are totally fine, as long as Dear Leader says so. The same "hell no" Republicans who spent a decade shrieking about deficits suddenly found the courage to vote for short-term funding bills, a multitrillion-dollar package, and a giant debt ceiling hike—after Emmer handed them the political equivalent of, "That’s cute, now go tell Donald Trump to his face you’re voting no." In other words, fiscal conservatism died so the cult could live.
Emmer’s proud of it, too. He brags that he only counts Republican votes—Democrats don’t matter, the public barely matters, and the only real metric is whether Trump approves. When his whip counts come back with dozens of "no" and "maybe" responses, the tough cases get escalated to the new switchboard of American governance: Donald J. Trump, personal arm-twister-in-chief. Because nothing says "coequal branch of government" like members of Congress being told, essentially, "You can defy me, but then you’ll have to explain yourself to the guy your base worships like a golden calf in a red tie."
The result: a tiny GOP majority manages to pass spending bills on its own, Schumer blinks, Democrats fold during a 43-day shutdown, and the House Freedom Caucus—those brave warriors against Big Government—quietly votes for the very kind of giant debt-ceiling increase they used to call tyranny. Emmer and Speaker Mike Johnson call it a "revolution." They’re not wrong: it’s a revolution where Congress stops being a legislature and becomes a loyalty test to one man, while the "limited government" crowd lines up to rubber-stamp a "big, beautiful" mountain of Trump-approved debt.
#killing-democracy#oligarchy#full-stupid
trump threatens to annex greenland, reinvent un as paywall
President Trump, JD Vance, and Marco Rubio audition for a reboot of manifest destiny, now with more nukes and fewer brain cells.
Donald Trump is landing in Davos to explain to rattled European allies why the new American foreign policy is basically: "Nice continent you’ve got there, shame if someone annexed parts of it." He’s demanding Denmark hand over Greenland "willingly or not," floating military action against a NATO ally, and slapping 10% tariffs on Denmark and seven other European countries unless they cough up the world’s largest island like it’s a timeshare he got upsold at Mar-a-Lago.
Because nothing says "defending Western democracy" like forcing fellow democracies to choose between economic blackmail and the threat of invasion, Trump is also eyeing Canada as a potential 51st state. Canada, normally content to worry about moose and housing prices, is now reportedly drawing up plans for how to respond to a hypothetical U.S. attack. Meanwhile, Greenland’s prime minister says an invasion "can’t be ruled out"—a sentence that used to belong in alternate history novels, not NBC News.
To sell this, Trump posted an image of himself planting an American flag in the tundra next to a sign reading "Greenland, US Territory, Est. 2026," with JD Vance and Marco Rubio standing behind him like the world’s saddest cosplay of manifest destiny. Former EU ambassador Gordon Sondland helpfully explains that Trump’s goals are "laudable"—militarize the Arctic, hoard rare-earth minerals, and "box out" Russia and China—he’s just "rough around the edges" and bad at explaining it. In other words: the plan is imperialism, but the branding is sloppy.
And because the grift is never optional, Trump is also rolling out his "Board of Peace"—a $1 billion buy-in club that looks suspiciously like a paywalled replacement for the U.N., complete with invitations to Vladimir Putin and assorted authoritarians. Democratic leaders like Macron are politely declining, preferring that conflict resolution not require a cover charge. But sure, threaten to annex Greenland, destabilize NATO, start a trade war with Europe, and build a billionaire peace club with Putin on the guest list—what could possibly go wrong.
#imperialism#killing-democracy#forever-grifting
treasury genius declares entire nato ally ‘irrelevant’ to defend greenland land‑grab
Scott Bessent explains that Denmark is irrelevant, NATO is optional, and Greenland is basically a Black Friday doorbuster for empires.
Trump’s treasury secretary Scott Bessent has discovered a bold new diplomatic doctrine: if a NATO ally objects to your plan to annex part of their kingdom, just declare them irrelevant and threaten their neighbors with tariffs. At Davos, Bessent brushed off Denmark’s role in the US debt market as trivial, then used that as an excuse to wave away Danish objections to Trump’s Greenland takeover fantasy. Because nothing says respect for the rules-based order like trying to bully a small democracy out of its territory while calling them economically meaningless.
As Europe talks about the rule of law over brutality and promises an “unflinching response” to Trump’s tariff threats on eight countries opposing his Arctic land seizure, Bessent calls their statements “inflammatory” and scolds Emmanuel Macron for not minding his own collapsing budget. In other words: Washington is openly mulling economic punishment of allies for not backing an imperial land grab, then accusing them of overreacting.
Bessent also begged Davos elites not to show “reflexive anger” and instead wait patiently for Trump to arrive three hours late and explain why the US should own Greenland, confidently predicting everyone will be “persuaded.” Meanwhile, he saved his pettiest bile for California governor Gavin Newsom, calling him “Patrick Bateman meets Sparkle Beach Ken” and ranting that Newsom is too “smug” and “economically illiterate” to understand anything. The guy fronting a 21st-century annexation scheme at a billionaire ski conference accusing others of hobnobbing with the global elite is… a choice.
So to recap: the US is trying to strong-arm Europe into accepting a territorial grab, dismissing a key NATO ally as disposable, dangling tariffs as punishment for disobedience, and screeching about “fake news” when banks point out this might have consequences. But sure, tell us more about how everyone else is the bully.
#imperialism#killing-democracy
trump moves to ‘independent’ fed, asks to speak to the manager
Jerome Powell walks into the Supreme Court to find out if the Federal Reserve is still a central bank or just the interest-rate wing of Trump 2028.
The Supreme Court is taking up Donald Trump’s latest hobby: seeing how many American institutions he can bend until they snap. This week’s contestant is the Federal Reserve, where Trump is trying to fire Governor Lisa Cook — a Biden appointee and the first woman of color on the Fed board — over what his people call mortgage fraud and what normal people call an "isolated notation" on some paperwork. A federal court already told him no, but why respect 14‑year terms and central bank independence when you can just ask the Supreme Court to turn the Fed into another Mar‑a‑Lago loyalty program?
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice — now apparently the Department of Rate Cuts and Retaliation — has opened a criminal investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell, nominally about office renovations but quite transparently about his failure to "follow the preferences of the president". Because nothing screams “sound monetary policy” like prosecuting the guy who won’t tank interest rates fast enough to juice your re‑election portfolio.
Trump’s lawyers are arguing that he can boot a Fed governor basically at will, while Cook’s team is pointing to this thing called the Fifth Amendment and the whole "for cause" requirement Congress wrote into law back when we still pretended to care about independent institutions. Even the Supreme Court has previously hinted that the Fed is structurally special and might deserve extra protection, but now they get to decide whether the central bank stays quasi‑independent or becomes just another agency where Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency fires everyone who can do math.
In other words, the president who already used DOGE to purge tens of thousands of civil servants is now test‑driving whether he can personally reprogram monetary policy by threatening the jobs — and freedom — of anyone at the Fed who won’t turn the US economy into his campaign ATM. But sure, tell us again how this is about mortgage paperwork and not about turning the Federal Reserve into the Federal Re‑Elect Donald J. Trump Committee.
#killing-democracy#forever-grifting
elon’s efficiency wizards allegedly turn social security data into a voter fraud toy
Pictured: the look you give when you realize you let Elon Musk’s "efficiency" startup rummage through Social Security and then maybe hand it to election truthers.
The Justice Department quietly told a federal judge that Elon Musk’s beloved Department of Government Efficiency — DOGE, because of course it is — may have taken Americans’ Social Security data and gone full MAGA fan fiction with it. After a judge in Maryland slapped DOGE with a temporary restraining order in March blocking access to SSA data, an unnamed political advocacy group allegedly slid into the DOGE team’s DMs asking them to "analyze state voter rolls" to "overturn election results in certain States." In other words: take data collected to run Social Security and see if it can help overthrow elections, all in the name of "efficiency."
One DOGE staffer even signed a "Voter Data Agreement" with this mystery group four days after the restraining order was issued, because nothing says "we respect the courts" like immediately doing the one thing the court is worried you’ll do. DOJ says it’s not clear yet whether personal info was actually handed over, but SSA admits DOGE geniuses were funneling data through Cloudflare — a third-party server explicitly not approved for SSA data — right up until a week before the TRO. SSA only discovered this months later, long after DOGE had shut down early in a blaze of whistleblower allegations about dumping millions of people’s records into a "cloud environment that circumvents oversight," which is a very polite way of saying what if Equifax, but with Elon in charge?
Remember: the Supreme Court heroically stepped in last June to reverse that pesky restraining order and let DOGE back into the Social Security data vault, after the agency solemnly promised it just wanted to "modernize technology" and "maximize efficiency." Judge Ellen Hollander had already warned DOGE was on a fishing expedition for a voter fraud epidemic that doesn’t exist, risking millions of people’s private info to find a needle they don’t even know is in the haystack. The Trump administration has now made a couple of Hatch Act referrals like that’s going to fix the part where a privatized, billionaire-run shadow agency allegedly tried to weaponize federal benefits data for election games. But sure, tell us again how this was all about cutting waste and improving government services.
#killing-democracy#forever-grifting
trump ai policy: move fast and break democracies
Michael Kratsios in Davos, patiently explaining that the only real AI risk is not letting Peter Thiel’s portfolio companies run the planet.
Michael Kratsios, Trump’s chief tech whisperer and proud Peter Thiel alumni, has arrived in Davos to explain to Europe why actually the problem with AI isn’t unaccountable, world-scale systems run by a handful of companies — it’s the EU’s attempt to regulate them. He calls the EU AI Act an "absolute disaster" and brags that Trump’s "light-touch" approach is the winning formula, because nothing says "responsible governance" like handing the steering wheel of civilization to venture capitalists and hoping they’re feeling vibes-based ethical that day.
Kratsios touts the White House’s AI Action Plan as "probably the most robust" pro-innovation strategy in the world, which in practice means: strip out "red tape" and "onerous regulation" from agencies, undo Biden’s 2023 AI safeguards, and make sure nothing slows down the deployment of systems that can turbocharge disinformation, automate discrimination, and nuke what’s left of privacy. In other words, it’s the usual Trump formula: deregulate everything, then act shocked when it explodes — but cash the checks first.
The plan’s crown jewel is a new American AI Export Program, where the Development Finance Corporation and Export-Import Bank will kindly offer financing so other countries can go into debt buying "the American AI stack" — chips, models, apps, the whole surveillance-and-dependence starter pack. Kratsios frames this as helping them build "sovereign AI systems," which is a cute way of describing structural dependency on U.S. tech giants underwritten by U.S. taxpayers. But sure, tell us more about how international AI oversight is the real "overreach."
And just to keep the revolving door polished, Kratsios glides in from a leadership role at Scale AI — the data-labeling unicorn that conveniently snagged a $14.3 billion Meta investment — to now shape federal AI policy that will supercharge demand for exactly the kind of infrastructure and services his old world lives on. Surrounded by fellow VC titans like David Sacks and Sriram Krishnan in the White House AI inner circle, the message from Davos is crystal clear: America will "lead the world in AI" by turning public institutions into a salesforce for Silicon Valley, dismantling guardrails, and calling it freedom.
#forever-grifting#oligarchy
trump’s caribbean oil pirate adventure enters sequel territory
US warship enforces Trump’s new foreign policy doctrine: if it floats and carries oil, it’s now under new management.
The Trump administration has now seized its seventh Venezuela-linked oil tanker in the Caribbean, because nothing says "rules-based international order" like parking a mini-fleet off someone else’s coastline and jacking their ships. U.S. Southern Command bragged about apprehending the Motor Vessel Sagitta "without incident," as if the incident isn’t the part where the president unilaterally declares a "quarantine" on other countries’ oil and the Navy plays hall monitor for Exxon’s vision board.
This all comes in the middle of Trump’s month-long campaign to "control" Venezuela’s oil flows, which, in normal English, translates to: we’re taking your stuff and calling it freedom. After Trump’s attempt at diplomacy failed (shocking), he just ordered U.S. forces to fly into a sovereign country, kidnap its president and his wife in an overnight raid, and drag them to New York. Because if there’s one thing this administration hates, it’s other people violating borders.
Now Trump is openly promising that the U.S. will control Venezuela’s oil resources indefinitely, while pitching a $100bn "rebuild" plan that has environmentalists and even U.S. oil giants side-eyeing it like a three-card monte table. In other words, it’s Iraq-but-dumber: a half-baked occupation-lite, dressed up as humanitarian reconstruction, enforced by warships, and justified by saying only "properly and lawfully coordinated" oil gets to leave Venezuela — which conveniently means "approved by Trump and his donors." But sure, tell us again how this is all about democracy and not just a smash-and-grab resource heist in broad daylight.
#imperialism#killing-democracy
historian politely describes soft coup as ‘extreme presidential power’
A historian gently explaining on live TV that the presidency has mutated into a semi-legal monarchy, while everyone nods like this is fine and normal.
NBC brings on historian Douglas Brinkley to politely translate what everyone else has been screaming for years: Trump’s first year in office wasn’t just chaotic, it was a case study in how to stretch presidential power until the Constitution starts making that weird cracking sound. From emergency declarations as a lifestyle brand to running foreign policy via rage-tweets, we’re told we’ve entered an “era of extreme presidential power” — in other words, the part of the movie where the lights flicker and the soundtrack gets ominous.
Instead of checks and balances, we got Republican leadership treating Congress like a presidential fan club, the courts playing whack-a-mole with unlawful orders, and Trump discovering that if no one actually stops you, you can just keep doing the thing. The historian frames it as a structural shift in the modern presidency; translation: future presidents now have a handy Trump-sized precedent for ignoring norms, bulldozing institutions, and treating the rule of law as optional fine print.
So yes, historians are calmly labeling it an era of extreme power, as if this is just another chapter in a textbook and not the part where the democratic experiment starts speed-running its own failure mode. But sure, let’s call it “robust executive authority” instead of what it looks like from orbit: a slow-motion stress test of whether American democracy can survive one man’s need for attention and control.
#killing-democracy#fascism
trump’s doj discovers minnesota on a map, immediately launches crackdown
Pictured: The exact moment the Trump DOJ decided that governing Minnesota is now a federal crime.
The Trump Justice Department has apparently finished its busy schedule of losing court cases and is now moving on to its favorite hobby: punishing blue states for not being cruel enough to immigrants. Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and other state and local officials as part of the administration’s shiny new "immigration crackdown"—because nothing says "law and order" like using the DOJ as a blunt political weapon against jurisdictions that don’t worship at the altar of ICE.
In other words, instead of focusing on actual crime, Trump’s DOJ is chasing mayors and governors whose main offense is not enthusiastically helping deport their own residents. The message is clear: comply with our anti-immigrant agenda or enjoy your subpoena. It’s the same old playbook—brand normal governance as "lawless," send in the feds, and hope the chilling effect does what the Constitution inconveniently won’t let them do directly.
So now Minnesota joins the ever-growing list of places where the federal government is trying to make basic decency toward immigrants legally suspect. Walz and Frey are being treated like mob bosses for the crime of not turning their cities into junior border patrol outposts. But sure, tell us again how this is all about "public safety" and not about building a nationwide system where the president can sic federal law enforcement on any state that refuses to join his deportation cosplay.
If you were wondering what it looks like when the federal government weaponizes subpoenas to intimidate local officials into abandoning sanctuary-style policies, congratulations: you’re watching it in real time. Rule of law has left the chat; retribution-by-subpoena is running the group now.
#killing-democracy#anti-immigration#lawlessness
supreme court discovers the right to bring a gun into your brunch
The Supreme Court’s conservative justices, seen here workshopping the constitutional right to bring a Glock to Applebee’s.
The Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority is once again gathered to do what it does best: turn the Second Amendment into a golden idol and every other right into a suggestion. In Wolford v. Lopez, three Maui residents and a local gun group — backed by Donald Trump’s administration, because of course they are — are asking the justices to strike down Hawaii’s rule that says you can’t bring a gun onto private property open to the public unless the owner actually wants guns there. You know, basic property rights and consent, which conservatives only care about when it’s corporations or zygotes.
Justice Sam Alito complained that Hawaii was treating the Second Amendment as a “second-class right,” because nothing says “first-class freedom” like forcing every coffee shop, beach bar, and corner store to be a potential crossfire zone unless they put up a sign begging people not to show up strapped. Chief Justice John Roberts helpfully compared asking for votes at someone’s door to showing up with a concealed weapon, because in this court’s universe, canvassing and concealed carry are basically the same thing.
Meanwhile, Hawaii — which has some of the strictest gun laws in the country and, shockingly, one of the lowest firearm death rates — is in the absurd position of having to argue that maybe, just maybe, property owners should get to decide whether random armed strangers can waltz into their businesses. Sonia Sotomayor asked where exactly the Constitution guarantees a right to carry guns onto private property; the challengers said it does, because why not, we’re just making up a new tier of rights now. In other words, the Trump-built court is inching toward a world where your right to carry a gun trumps everyone else’s right to feel safe on their own property — but sure, tell us more about how it’s the liberals who hate freedom.
#killing-democracy#lawlessness
judge to trump doj: if your fake prosecutor is 'in office,' why is there a help wanted ad?
Artist’s rendering of the Eastern District of Virginia posting a LinkedIn ad to inform Trump’s DOJ that their imaginary U.S. Attorney does not, in fact, exist.
The Eastern District of Virginia just put up a public job posting for "Interim U.S. Attorney" because Chief Judge M. Hannah Lauck has decided that, minor detail, the office is actually vacant — despite Trump’s Justice Department still insisting that loyalist Lindsey Halligan is totally, definitely, legally in charge. In other words, the judiciary is now subtweeting the executive branch with a USAJobs listing.
Halligan, you’ll recall, was already ruled to be unlawfully serving in the role, which led a judge to toss her politically motivated cases against top Trump enemies James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Since then, the Trump administration has tried — and failed, and then failed again — to get a grand jury to indict James on flimsy mortgage charges, a remarkable achievement given that grand juries usually indict ham sandwiches, not presidents’ political targets.
In the meantime, a senior EDVA attorney was fired for not being sufficiently enthusiastic about re-indicting Comey over 2020 testimony that is now past the statute of limitations, because nothing says "law and order" like firing career prosecutors when the calendar and the Constitution get in the way. Yet DOJ still refers to Halligan as "United States Attorney and Special Attorney," citing some secret OLC memo as if internal fan fiction trumps a federal court order. The judge has now invited literally anyone with a law license to apply for the job, because at this point, random LinkedIn applicants are more legitimate than Trump’s handpicked, experience-free hatchet woman.
#killing-democracy#lawlessness#corruption
trump fights antisemitism by… demanding a list of jews
Federal civil-rights lawyers heroically marching into court to demand the one thing history has always shown keeps Jews safest: a government-ordered list of where they live.
The Trump administration has discovered a bold new way to "protect" Jews from antisemitism: order the University of Pennsylvania to compile and hand over a government-ready list of Jews, complete with personal contact information and addresses. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — you know, the agency that’s supposed to prevent discrimination — actually sued Penn to force compliance when the university refused to help the feds build a 21st-century registry. Because nothing says "never again" like recreating one of history’s favorite tools of persecution.
The demand is so grotesque that everyone from Penn Hillel and Meor to the ADL, AJC, Jewish Federation, AAUP-Penn, the Association for Jewish Studies, ACE, and PEN America are all on the same side for once, united in a single, horrified "absolutely not". They seem to have noticed that in an era where Trump-world openly flirts with white supremacy, traffics in antisemitic tropes, and platforms Nick Fuentes fanboys, handing over a neat spreadsheet of Jewish students and faculty might not end well. The authors point out that history is full of examples — like Dutch Jewish census data used by Nazis — where "protective" data magically transformed into a deportation and extermination aid kit.
And this isn’t a one-off; it’s part of a wider project. The administration has been weaponizing allegations of antisemitism and "wokeness" to attack universities, threaten research funding, enforce ideological conformity, harass international students with disfavored views, and even demand lists of patients receiving gender-affirming care. In other words, the Penn subpoena isn’t about safety; it’s a test case to normalize the government’s power to compel ideological and identity-based lists — Jews today, other religious, immigrant, or "unpatriotic" groups tomorrow. But sure, tell us again how this is all about protecting civil rights.
#fascism#killing-democracy
trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’ buys a little secret police time
Kristi Noem explains that if Congress can’t see inside the detention camps, that actually proves how transparent the system is.
The Trump administration just scored a temporary win in its ongoing campaign to turn ICE facilities into oversight-free black boxes. A federal judge in DC ruled that DHS can keep demanding a week’s notice before members of Congress inspect immigration detention camps — the same policy she blocked last month — because this time it’s funded with money from Trump’s so-called “big beautiful bill.” In other words: same authoritarian policy, new checking account, so now it “facially differs.” Because nothing says checks and balances like “try filing a whole new lawsuit if you want to see what we’re doing to people in cages.”
While they were busy lawyering congressional oversight into oblivion, DOJ lawyers were also in Minnesota arguing that the state has no right to stop what its own attorney general calls a federal “invasion” — including warrantless racist arrests, targeting courts, churches, and schools, and the killing of an unarmed US citizen, Renee Good, by an ICE agent. The feds dismissed Minnesota’s lawsuit as an “absurdity” that would make the supremacy of federal law “an afterthought to local preferences,” which is a very polite way of saying: we get to terrorize your residents and you’re supposed to say thank you.
On top of that, the administration is appealing an injunction that told ICE and friends to stop doing a few tiny things like pointing guns at protesters, pepper-spraying crowds, and arresting observers in retaliation. Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem has already walked back her denial that chemical agents were used, now insisting they were necessary to “establish law and order” — because nothing screams “law and order” like lying about gassing people and then demanding the right to keep doing it. So to recap: block Congress from seeing the camps, tell Minnesota to sit down and enjoy the occupation, and fight in court for the constitutional right to menace protesters with weapons. But sure, tell us again how this is all about security and not about building a little domestic police state on layaway.
#killing-democracy#fascism
trump orders another loyalty purge, gop salutes
Bill Cassidy smiles politely while the party he served hands his career a blindfold and a cigarette.
Bill Cassidy made the unforgivable mistake of treating the Jan. 6 coup attempt like it was bad, so naturally the Republican Party is now trying to remove him from public life like a virus Trump’s immune system finally noticed. Rep. Julia Letlow has launched a primary challenge in Louisiana, armed with a fresh endorsement from the twice-impeached, coup-curious ex-president himself, who screamed "RUN, JULIA, RUN!!!" on social media like Forrest Gump with fewer brain cells and more indictments.
Cassidy — who voted to convict Trump after the Capitol riot, back when some Republicans briefly pretended to care about sedition — is now facing a fully Trump-branded firing squad in a newly closed GOP primary, because nothing says "healthy democracy" like changing the rules and then purging anyone who once suggested overthrowing the government might be bad. State Treasurer John Fleming, a proud alum of Trump’s first administration, and state Sen. Blake Miguez are already in the race, turning the primary into a contest over who can pledge louder that they will never again let silly things like the Constitution get between them and Dear Leader.
Meanwhile, Cassidy insists he’s running as a "principled conservative who gets things done," which is adorable given that the only principle that matters in today’s GOP is unquestioning loyalty to Trump. Of the Republicans who dared vote to impeach or convict him, most are retired, resigned, or otherwise vanished from the party like witnesses in a mob movie. In other words, this isn’t just a Senate race — it’s another public execution of dissent, live from the Trump GOP, where the platform is simple: obey, forget January 6 ever happened, and never, ever cross the guy who tried to stay in power after losing.
#killing-democracy#fascism
rfk jr ends war on saturated fat, opens new front against the amazon
RFK Jr’s revolutionary new food pyramid, scientifically optimized to maximize saturated fat, methane emissions, and donor satisfaction.
The Trump administration’s health department has released a new "inverted" food pyramid that looks less like nutrition guidance and more like a Golden Corral vision board. Under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the official US dietary guidelines now urge Americans to eat way more meat and dairy, nearly doubling protein intake and proudly "ending the war on saturated fats"—because nothing says "public health" like state-sponsored clogged arteries and a side of methane.
Experts point out that even a 25% bump in meat-based protein would require about 100 million extra acres of agricultural land—roughly the size of California—plus hundreds of millions of tons of additional climate pollution. That land has to come from somewhere, which in practice means more forests razed, more pressure on the Amazon, and more rivers and groundwater marinated in manure, hormones, and nitrates. In other words, the administration has managed to turn the food pyramid into a deforestation plan.
The fun twist: RFK Jr himself used to warn that factory meat production was a bigger threat than Osama bin Laden and had "polluted thousands of miles" of rivers and "sickened and killed thousands" of Americans. Now, as Trump’s health secretary, he’s ignoring an independent scientific panel that recommended emphasizing plant-based proteins and instead is boosting the very industry he once called an environmental menace. So the new message from the guy who used to sue polluters is: eat more beef, burn more forests, and don’t worry, the planet was overrated anyway.
#anti-science#killing-democracy
