Tonight, on John Oliver's Last Week Tonight, #Mastodon and #PixelFed got a call out for not falling in line with Trump and as an alternative to Meta products.
#USPol #JohnMastodon
Edited 54d ago
uspol
Welcome to the March/April 2025 issue of Texas Observer magazine! Editor-in-Chief Gus Bova introduces our latest by examining the "biannual dread” invoked by the Texas legislature and what we can do about it. https://www.texasobserver.org/editors-letter-introducing-our-march-april-2025-issue/
Edited 50d ago
The United States currently has an elected president and an unelected billionaire who are flagrantly breaking its laws. As members of Congress wrongly insist they have no leverage to do anything about this, we who care about democracy are pleading for others to help. Is it consistent with democracy to direct these pleas to the federal judiciary—a branch of government staffed by unelected judges?
Yes, of course. With reservations.
A third downside to relying on the judicial menu is that federal courts helped get us into this mess—and they can make things much worse by ratifying the lawbreaking. Few federal judges believe it is actually their democratic responsibility to enforce the laws passed by Congress; most of them believe they can disregard any law whose constitutionality they disagree with.
#USPol #USCourts #Congress
I REALLLYY like the Send the President a Postcard movement, because:
a) I love postcards
b) I like imagining all the giggles every postal worker, etc will get seeing it
c) Everyone can do it
Please tell me you'll join in and send a postcard, or 2?
I created this graphic tonight to share - it's the idea from @BrianJopek
Edited 46d ago
When Biden left the White House, the economy was growing at 3.9%.
Now that Trump is in the White House he’s turned it into a NEGATIVE 2.5% growth rate IN SIX WEEKS.
Republican Presidents destroy the economy.
#Economy #StockMarket #GDP #ArrestTrump #ArrestMusk #DonaldKrasnov #RepublicansOwnThis #GOPKakistocracy #GOPWeirdos #NoRepublicansEverAgain #USPol
Edited 45d ago
🚨 Want to resist ICE agents?
EDIT: This is a general training session about organizing resistance to the Trump agenda, not just against ICE
There's a virtual training session on Wed, March 19, 8 PM Eastern/ 5 PM Pacific
"Do Not Comply: a training to organize resistance in your community"
https://www.mobilize.us/surj/event/759508/
Note: "Can’t make the call? Register and we’ll send you a recording in a few days."
Edited 45d ago
How Musk likes to see himself: the Master of Master Blaster. He would do well to remember how this character met his end.
Musk has indicated on X that he thinks he's ready for a post-apocalyptic world, showing a picture of Max next to his car in Mad Max 2. This is much closer to how he would survive. Riding on the back of useful idiots while living in a world of darkness and shit.
Edit: Sorry, I wasn't happy with the helmet's shadow on Trump's face - or rather, the lack of one. #Nitpick
Edit2: Sorry again, there was no shadow on Musk's face, either. It looked too flat. A bit better now. Last edit, I promise. 😁
Edited 48d ago
Trump is escalating his efforts to foment fear among #immigrants. Admin: arrested & moving to deport Khalil.
Trump is moving to REQUIRE ALL NONCITIZENS AGE: >14 TO REGISTER WITH THE GOVT -require them to get fingerprinted or potentially face prosecution. Goal: to spread terror & get noncitizens to self-deport.
Rep Jayapal is introducing the No Roundup Act, leg: repeals this long-dormant IMG law that Trump's using to fuel his cruel & inhumane #massdeportations.
#USPol https://newrepublic.com/article/192628/transcript-trump-press-sec-drops-dark-hint-coming-crackdowns
Edited 38d ago
This is good and right. "If you want religion in schools, I want the IRS in churches."
![Avatar for [object Object]](/proxy/identity_icon/352244658255391458/7c5a84d16e.png){kind=icon}
I will never take up arms against Canada, and if my idiot president decides to I will be the opposite of cooperative. #uspol
From Ben HsuBorger at #MEAction:
"Why I Joined a Stand Up for Science Rally"
https://www.meaction.net/2025/03/12/why-i-joined-a-stand-up-for-science-rally/
"I have lived as an ME/CFS 'spoonie' for the past 20 years after I got a virus and never recovered. I’ve spent much of the past 10 years of my career advocating for ME/CFS research at the NIH"
"I don’t want to see the same scientific harms that have happened in the ME community become even more widespread across all of science"
@mecfs
mar 15
5 min
How to kill the goose which lays golden eggs. University layoffs.. censorship, research shutdowns, cuts to basic research in government foundations and agencies, universities revoking degrees, and all the crazy shit ICE is doing, I certainly painting an American education and a unique fashion.
And you can have a side of deadly preventable diseases!
Edited 31d ago
Sanders, AOC Draw Biggest Crowd of Their Careers at Rally to Fight 'Oligarchy' in Denver
34,000 people attended the rally in Denver’s Civic Center Park
https://www.commondreams.org/news/sanders-aoc-fight-oligarchy-denver
BIG Protest Thread 🧵
Resources and information for protestors
-How to find
-How to prepare / stay safe
-Printable flyers
-Rights
-How to identify disinformation and bad actors
-Deep Canvassing
“Over 20 GOP & conservative former officials joined together to send a clear message:
Trump’s use of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act is UNPRECEDENTED & UNLAWFUL
His move to deport individuals without due process cannot and should not be tolerated.”
-M Eisen
#RuleOfLaw #Constitution #Justice #Trump #Deportations #DHS #DueProcess #Fascism #Resist #USPol
Mr Grab-em-by-the-Pussy" is just a Muppet with Putins fist up his arse, Musk pulling his strings
Dont forget he told Stormy D
"You remind me of my daughter"
Then had sex with her.
Let that sink in
You remind me of my daughter I want to f-k you
he talked about Ivankas breasts, her backside, what it might be like to have sex with her, "If she weren't my daughter, I'd be dating her”
did you throw up a little in your mouth
Do you feel sorry or worry about his daughter?
Boston declares itself a pro-trans sanctuary city amid GOP’s escalating attacks
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/03/boston-declares-itself-a-pro-trans-sanctuary-city-amid-gops-escalating-anti-trans-attacks/
Boston won't comply w. anti-LGBTQ+ fed. orders
* decision comes w. some risk. 🏳️⚧️🙏
#USpol #Boston #LGBTQ #SanctuaryCity #TransLivesMatter
#Trump #fascism #Christofascism #transgenocide
Holy shit
#DeSantis admits that the #WorkerShortages created by anti-#immigrant laws need to be eased by putting teenagers to work by relaxing #ChildLabor protection standards.
#USpol #law #immigration #economy #Trump
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/immigration/article302704319.html
Edited 25d ago
This is beyond…
#LeMonde reporting that a French scientist traveling to Houston to attend a conference was denied entry to #US after a #search of his #phone & #computer revealed messages critical of #Trump's #science cuts, "which [says #CPB] conveyed hatred of Trump & could be qualified as terrorism". Computer confiscated.
#law #geopolitics #USpol #authoritarianism #dictatorship #FreeSpeech #ThoughtPolice #Nazis #ViewpointDiscrimination
https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2025/03/19/etats-unis-un-chercheur-francais-refoule-pour-avoir-exprime-une-opinion-personnelle-sur-la-politique-menee-par-l-administration-trump_6583618_3210.html
'Social Inflation'
I want to introduce a concept I'll call "social inflation", defined as 'the gradual thinning of the interpersonal resources of a society'. I imagine that the field of sociology has some language for this, but let's pretend I'm coming up with something new.
Economic inflation is something we are long familiar with, as it is just assumed that everything has to always get more expensive as 'standards of living' (for the wealthy) must perpetually increase (not wages, though). Social inflation, however, is impossible to define quantitatively. Leading up to times of turmoil there is a creeping breakdown of relationships that can snap suddenly, a socio-economic depression, to the point that our civil institutions can no longer function. Globally, we may be entering a socio-economic depression that will drastically reshape our states and institutions.
I believe that social and economic inflation, essentially the drawdown of resources that support our civic institutions, is driven by technological grifting and worker exploitation. #Luddite platforms simultaneously address workers rights and techno-scams. The foundation of #Luddism, to me, is addressing these two intertwining factors, by rejecting the hyper-technological 'growth' used to justify the 'trickle down' approach to economics that exploits workers and destroys the planet. #usPol #SolarPunk #Sociology #PoliticalScience
Lies, Information Spaces, and Changing Minds
The scary thing we are learning is, to our collective horror, we have built up very little institutional or cultural resilience to fascists, specifically their lies and manipulation. The good news is that we are getting a crash course in how to build that resilience, and it can be pretty straightforward.
I think the foundation of democratic resilience is ending bothsides-ism in #media. Once someone demostrates they are untrustworthy, their voice needs to be dismissed outright. As consumers, all of us have the agency to reject sources that rely on both-sidesism and clickbait catastrophizing. This will take time to learn good habits and it involves collective responsibility, but I believe we can do this.
These battles are won in information spaces, and while autocrats have the advantage of corporate mouthpiece control, they have the disadvantage of being grossly incompetent and stupidly cruel. Their 'brand' is technocratic efficiency and objectivity. As crazy as it sounds, a lot of people dont know they are being lied to because of the information spaces they are trapped in and the blinders they have put up. Our pressure on autocrats, pointing out their incompetence, stupidity, and cruelty, needs to be relentless in order to destroy their brand and help people break free of these bubbles.
I know its distressing to see so many fall for outright lies, but people are very capable of changing their minds when they are presented with evidence that touches on their personal experiences. I point back to collective responsibility to win back minds and diligently fight against authoritarian propoganda, as all of us who have used #BigTech or ever believed in 'meritocracy' have helped build this world.
#Uspol #US #Canada #Europe