#Tag
This is a good page to bookmark.
“None of the last 31 political attacks was by anyone from 'the Left'. Not one. We can count them.”
This is a good page to bookmark.
“None of the last 31 political attacks was by anyone from 'the Left'. Not one. We can count them.”
Rep. Brian Mast (R-Florida) has introduced a bill that would allow the Secretary of State (which today is Marco Rubio) to designate any US citizen a “terrorist supporter” based on their online speech, and deny them a passport.
First of all, a passport should be a right to any US citizen and a service provided by the US government. Refusing to issue a passport is essentially the equivalent of confiscating one’s passport—something that is already illegal to do.
Second, the First Amendment prohibits the government from creating laws that constrain people’s right to speech and opinion, something that Republicans have seemingly never understood. For a government agency to deny service to a citizen based on their speech is clearly unconstitutional.
“NEW BILL WOULD GIVE MARCO RUBIO “THOUGHT POLICE” POWER TO REVOKE U.S. PASSPORTS”
https://theintercept.com/2025/09/13/marco-rubio-revoke-us-passports-terrorism/
Unpaywalled: https://removepaywalls.com/https://theintercept.com/2025/09/13/marco-rubio-revoke-us-passports-terrorism/
An illustration by Pulitzer-winning political cartoonist Ann Telnaes.
PS: Fuck Washington Post for forcing her out to appease Trump.
An illustration by Pulitzer-winning political cartoonist Ann Telnaes.
PS: Fuck Washington Post for forcing her out to appease Trump.
We Ran the #CDC: #RFKJr Is Endangering Every American’s #Health
By William Foege, William Roper, David Satcher, Jeffrey Koplan, Richard Besser, Tom Frieden, Anne Schuchat, Rochelle P. Walensky & Mandy K. Cohen
The authors previously led in the CDC, as directors or acting directors under Republican & Democratic admins.
#Trump #policy #medicine #science#ConspiracyTheories #disinformation #idiocracy #kakistocracy#RecklessEndangerment #law
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/opinion/cdc-leaders-kennedy.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ik8.gf0g.skHNQEL7UbKw&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
“We have each had the honor & privilege of serving as director of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, either in a permanent or an acting capacity, dating back to 1977. Collectively, we spent >100 years working at the #CDC, the world’s pre-eminent #PublicHealth agency. We served under multiple Republican & Democratic admins—every president from Jimmy Carter to #Trump — alongside thousands of dedicated staff members who shared our commitment to saving lives & improving #health.
“What the #health & human services secretary, #RFKJr , has done to the #CDC & to our nation’s #PublicHealth system over the past several months — culminating in his decision to fire Dr. Susan Monarez as CDC director days ago — is unlike anything we had ever seen at the agency & unlike anything our country had ever experienced.”
#Trump #policy #medicine #science#ConspiracyTheories #disinformation #idiocracy #kakistocracy#RecklessEndangerment #law
We Ran the #CDC: #RFKJr Is Endangering Every American’s #Health
By William Foege, William Roper, David Satcher, Jeffrey Koplan, Richard Besser, Tom Frieden, Anne Schuchat, Rochelle P. Walensky & Mandy K. Cohen
The authors previously led in the CDC, as directors or acting directors under Republican & Democratic admins.
#Trump #policy #medicine #science#ConspiracyTheories #disinformation #idiocracy #kakistocracy#RecklessEndangerment #law
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/opinion/cdc-leaders-kennedy.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ik8.gf0g.skHNQEL7UbKw&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
“Pausing” operations means that they HAVE BEEN ALLOWING IT until now.
Flock makes money per query. They are incentivized to allow “law enforcement” types to query their systems for as many things as they want, including tracking people down for violating anti-abortion laws, suspected “immigration” issues, and who knows what else.
Your tax dollars are paying for this. Flock cameras should be taken down.
#surveillance #kakistocracy #enshittification#FlockCameras#ALPR
“License plate camera company halts cooperation with federal agencies among investigation concerns”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/license-plate-camera-company-halts-225436172.html
“Pausing” operations means that they HAVE BEEN ALLOWING IT until now.
Flock makes money per query. They are incentivized to allow “law enforcement” types to query their systems for as many things as they want, including tracking people down for violating anti-abortion laws, suspected “immigration” issues, and who knows what else.
Your tax dollars are paying for this. Flock cameras should be taken down.
#surveillance #kakistocracy #enshittification#FlockCameras#ALPR
“License plate camera company halts cooperation with federal agencies among investigation concerns”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/license-plate-camera-company-halts-225436172.html
A seating chart shows that #Putin & #Trump were supposed to sit across from each other during the luncheon. Trump would be flanked by: Secy of State #MarcoRubio, Secy of #Defense#PeteHegseth & WH Chief of Staff #SusieWiles to his right, & Secy of #Treasury#ScottBessent, Secy of #Commerce#HowardLutnick & Special Envoy for Peace Missions #SteveWitkoff to his left. Putin would be seated next to his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey #Lavrov, & his Aide for Foreign Policy, Yuri #Ushakov.
Jon Michaels, a professor of #law at UCLA who lectures about #NationalSecurity, said that the documents found in the printer of the Alaskan hotel reveal a lapse in professional judgement in preparation for a high-stakes meeting.
"It strikes me as further evidence of the sloppiness & the incompetence of the administration," said Michaels. "You just don't leave things in printers. It's that simple." [And you don’t use the hotel’s public business center FFS!]
The first page in the printed packet disclosed the sequence of meetings for Aug 15, including the specific names of the rooms inside the base in Anchorage where they would take place. It also revealed #Trump intended to give #Putin a ceremonial present.
"POTUS to President Putin," the document states, "American Bald Eagle Desk Statue."
Pages 2 through 5 listed the names & phone numbers of 3 #US staff members as well as the names of 13 US & #Russia state leaders.
The list provided phonetic pronouncers for all the Russian men expected at the summit, including "Mr. President POO-tihn."
Pages 6 & 7 in the packet described how lunch at the summit would be served, and for whom. A menu included in the documents indicated that the luncheon was to be held "in honor of his excellency Vladimir Putin."
“This is taking #political control of a once politically neutral mechanism for #funding #science in the US,” said Joseph Bak-Coleman, a scientist studying group decision-making at the University of Washington.
The changes will delay grant review & approval, slowing “progress for cures & treatments that patients & families across the country urgently need,” said the Association of American Medical Colleges in a statement.
#USpol#Trump#BrainDrain #research #progress #idiocracy #kakistocracy
The admin has already terminated thousands of #research #grants at agencies like the #NSF & #NIH, including on topics like transgender health, vaccine hesitancy, misinformation & diversity, equity & inclusion.
The order could affect emergency relief grants doled out by #FEMA, #PublicSafety initiatives funded by the #DOJ & #PublicHealth efforts supported by the #CDC. Experts say the order is likely to be challenged in court.
#USpol#Trump#BrainDrain #research #progress #idiocracy #kakistocracy
Agencies cannot announce new #funding opportunities until the new protocols are in place, according to the order.
The #Trump admin said these changes are part of an effort to “strengthen oversight” & “streamline agency grantmaking.” Scientists say the order will cripple America’s scientific engine by placing control over federal #research funds in the hands of people who are influenced by #politics & lack relevant expertise.
“This is taking #political control of a once politically neutral mechanism for #funding #science in the US,” said Joseph Bak-Coleman, a scientist studying group decision-making at the University of Washington.
The changes will delay grant review & approval, slowing “progress for cures & treatments that patients & families across the country urgently need,” said the Association of American Medical Colleges in a statement.
#USpol#Trump#BrainDrain #research #progress #idiocracy #kakistocracy
The order requires all #FederalAgencies, including #FEMA, the National #Science Foundation [#NSF] & the National Institutes of #Health [#NIH], to appoint officials responsible for reviewing federal #funding opportunities & #grants, so that they “are consistent with agency priorities & the national interest.”
It also requires agencies to make it so that current & future federal grants can be terminated at any time—including during the grant period itself.
Agencies cannot announce new #funding opportunities until the new protocols are in place, according to the order.
The #Trump admin said these changes are part of an effort to “strengthen oversight” & “streamline agency grantmaking.” Scientists say the order will cripple America’s scientific engine by placing control over federal #research funds in the hands of people who are influenced by #politics & lack relevant expertise.
An #ExecutiveOrder signed by Trump late Thursday aims to give #political appointees power over the billions of dollars in grants awarded by #FederalAgencies. Scientists say it threatens to undermine the process that has helped make the #US the world leader in #research & #development.
#USpol#BrainDrain #progress #idiocracy #kakistocracy
https://apnews.com/article/trump-executive-order-federal-funding-grants-nih-fema-4b4b6c23a25a8ae3fdc7b43c4586c999
Tariffs are basically a sales tax. You pay it when you buy something from another country.
Trump is boasting about increasing your sales tax.
I wish journalists would point this out.
This year, I think #Republicans are setting up most US residents for a financial disaster. Consider the cumulative effects of these recent changes:
- Tariffs causing inflation and uncertainty
- Tariffs causing businesses to shrink or shut down
- Loss of international trading partnerships
- Loss of income from tourism
- Removal of healthcare from tens of millions of residents
- Unbridled AI use causing widespread job losses
- ICE raids making people too afraid to go to work
- ICE raids causing businesses to suddenly lose labor force
- ICE raids destroying the economy of countless families
- DOGE laying off massive numbers of government workers
- Shutdown of disaster warnings increasing the risk of personal tragedy and economic loss
- Shutdown of climate incentives increasing the risk of climate crisis
With these changes, what do you think is going to happen to the economy of the bulk of US residents? Not only the poorest 50%, but even the 90th percentile?
When Microsoft locked an ICC prosecutor out of their email, it proved just how easily U.S. power can reach across borders and into the heart of global justice, writes Paul Budde.
THE RECENT INCIDENT involving Microsoft and the International Criminal Court (ICC) should send a chill down the spine of every democratic nation.
Following a sanctions order from White House, Microsoft locked ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan out of his enterprise-level Office 365 account.
That account wasn’t personal — it was part of the ICC’s institutional infrastructure.
And just like that, an American tech giant disabled access to a key international legal actor.
...
What’s worse is the normalisation of it all. We scroll past headlines like “Microsoft cuts #ICC access” and carry on with our day. The sociologist Alexei Yurchak coined a term for this: hypernormalisation — the idea that everyone knows the system is broken, but we all pretend things are normal because no one can imagine how to change them..."
#Tyranny#Kakistocracy#ManufacturingConsent#Office365#Censorship
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