A musician friend notes, "I guess now we have an answer to the burning question, "How terrible does an elected leader have to be to warrant a public rebuke from the decidedly non-political Musicians' Union?" "
trump
So, Trump announced a bunch of tariffs today. Basically everybody but Russia.
But then there is 15-30 % for everybody. But Lesotho? Fuck Lesotho in particular, apparently. 50% tariffs.
Just by a super coincidence, seems like Starlink is trying to get a contract in Lesotho and having some difficulties. Clearly unrelated.
#Tariffs #Trump #ElonMusk #Tesla ##Twitter #SpaceX #politics
"Deported. Disappeared. Dehumanized.
Mahmoud Khalil
Rümeysa Öztürk
Mohsen Mahdawi
Yunseo Chung
Alireza Doroudi
Badar Khan Suri
Kseniia Petrova
Kilmar Ábrego García
Andry José Hernández Romero
Jerce Reyes Barrios
+ Hundreds More
Don’t forget their names and don’t look away."
~ The Contrarian
Court records show that interim D.C. U.S. Attorney Ed Martin violated a judge’s order, ghostwrote online attacks on a judge and engaged in what experts called professional misconduct.
Such a track record might have derailed another lawyer’s career. Not so for this Trump prosecutor.
✔️ 1/...
Via Max Berger:
It's totally unsustainable for Democrats to argue " #Trump is a dangerous authoritarian criminal who is openly disregarding the constitution and taking bribes--which is why it's idiotic to call for #impeachment."
You can say it's too soon, but it's what the constitution requires.
Axios:
SCOOP: Trump impeachment called "idiotic" and “horrible” in House Democratic meeting this morning
https://www.axios.com/2025/05/14/trump-impeachment-pelosi-thanedar-nadler
Edited 184d ago
The drummer for #Austin, #Texas metal band #LordBuffalo, who is a #legal #GreenCard holder, was seized by #ICE off of a plane as the band was departing for a European tour. His current whereabouts are unknown.
#immigration #law #Trump #StateSponsoredAbduction
https://www.metalsucks.net/2025/05/14/lord-buffalo-forced-to-cancel-european-tour-after-u-s-border-police-detained-their-drummer/
Madness #AmericanAutocracy
‘Vaguely Threatening’: #Trump Federal Prosecutor #EdMartin Queries Leading #Medical Journal
The New England Journal of Medicine [#NEJM] received a letter suggesting that it was biased & compromised by external pressure. Other journals have also received the letter.
#law #censorship #FirstAmendment #Constitution #democracy #AbuseOfPower #authoritarianism #tyranny #dictatorship #AntiIntellectualism #science #medicine
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/25/health/nejm-prosecutor-letter.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=p&pvid=68CE025A-703F-4C94-87AA-8D0D7D06D23B
U.S. #stocks tumble on global #TradeWar fears over new #tariffs
#Trump's sweeping tariff announcement Wednesday triggered a sharp drop in U.S. stock markets, a flashing-red warning sign of the economic fallout that's expected to result from the widening trade war.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled over 1,200 points, or 2.9%, Thursday within minutes of the opening bell. The broader S&P 500 index sank 3.4%.
#economy #recession #trumpcession
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/03/nx-s1-5350576/u-s-stocks-fall-tariffs-global-trade-war
Guten Morgen - Tässle Kaffee ☕️?
US-Verteidigungsminister Pete #Hegseth steht im Verdacht, #Jemen - Militärpläne in einem weiteren Chat geteilt zu haben. #Trump hält dennoch weiter an ihm fest.
Wer erinnert sich noch an die brutale & frauenfeindliche Kampagne wegen einiger Emails vom privaten Server gegen die Demokratin Hillary #Clinton? #USA 🇺🇸 #Sexismus #Thymokratie https://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2025-04/usa-praesident-donald-trump-pete-hegseth-verteidgungsminister-chats-militaerplaene
E.U. Prepares Major Penalties Against #Musk ’s #X
European regulators are considering fining X more than $1 bil
"Eur authorities weighing how large a fine to issue X as they consider the risks of further antagonizing #Trump amid wider trans-Atlantic disputes over trade, tariffs & war in Ukraine. The fine could surpass $1 billion..as regulators seek to make an example of X to deter other companies from violating the law, called the Digital Services Act"
🤬🤬🤬
#Trump Admin Knew Vast Majority of #Venezuelans Sent to #ElSalvador Prison Had Not Been Convicted of US Crimes
#DHS records reveal that officials knew that more than half of the 238 deportees were labeled as having NO #criminal record in the US & had only violated #immigration laws.
#law #AlienEnemiesAct #rendition #StateSponsoredAbduction #DueProcess #judiciary #FactCheck #TrumpLies #WhiteSupremacy
https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/30/trump-el-salvador-deportees-criminal-convictions-cecot-venezuela
"Convicted for taking bribes..." Trump can relate.
Scott MacFarlane:
ALERT: #Trump pardons former Culpeper County, Va sheriff Scott Jenkins
Jenkins was scandal-plagued for years and was convicted by rural Virginia jury of taking bribes in exchange for deputizing people w/ badges & credentials
Bribe payors were not trained or vetted & didn’t render legit services
#PBS sued #Trump on Friday to block an #ExecutiveOrder that would cut federal #funding for public television & radio, arguing that it was #unconstitutional.
The lawsuit, filed in DC by PBS & a public TV station in #Minnesota, says that Trump’s EO violates laws that “forbid the President from serving as the arbiter of the #content of PBS’s programming, including by attempting to defund PBS.”
#law #democracy #Constitution #FreePress #authoritarianism #AmericanAutocracy
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/business/media/pbs-trump-lawsuit-funding.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=p&pvid=BD8357FA-8CA8-4C37-B249-5CDD44A19A77
#Trump admin orders enhanced vetting of all #Harvard linked #visa applicants
The US #State Dept ordered all its consular missions overseas to begin additional vetting of visa applicants looking to travel to #HarvardUniversity for any purpose, acc/to an internal cable seen by Reuters on Friday, in a move that significantly expands Trump's persecution of the academic institution.
#law #immigration #RevengePolitics #Constitution #FirstAmendment #AcademicFreedom
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-administration-orders-extra-vetting-all-visa-applicants-linked-harvard-2025-05-30/
CNN's graphic depiction as of 9:05 A.M. EST of what's happening to the stock market after the man running the show crashed it, with his party cheering the crash on and 77 million Americans voting to accomplish this.
#Trump #tariffs #StockMarket #economy #crash #recession #inflation #MobBoss #stupidity #incompetence #destruction
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Edited 224d ago
👍🏼
Via David Dayen:
Today: DNC launches the "People's Cabinet... a lineup of policy experts & national & local leaders" to brief the public on #Trump's actions.
"Walmart is actively considering joining a group of investors to buy #TikTok, according to sources close to the deal, who say Walmart's interest was triggered by Amazon throwing their hat into the ring."
https://thereport.be/article/?app=breaking&u=https%3A%2F%2Fabcnews.go.com%2FPolitics%2Fwalmart-buying-tiktok-sources%2Fstory%3Fcid%3Dsocial_twitter_abcn%26id%3D120494441
CNN: " #Trump announced on Friday that he will again delay enforcement of the TikTok sale-or-ban law for 75 days, as his staff continues to work on a deal to preserve access to the app in the United States." https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/04/tech/tiktok-deal-ban-extended-trump?cid=ios_app
Edited 224d ago
President Trump said he would sign another executive order to delay enforcement of a law that effectively bans TikTok as a deal to sell the widely popular platform remains a work in progress. Read more at @CBSNews. #TikTok #SocialMedia #Trump #ByteDance #Tech #Technology https://flip.it/KZpCw6
Remember when #Trump told people that they’d get tired of winning once he was in office? If you are a Trump Admin lawyer, it surely doesn’t feel that way. Based on the #litigation tracker compiled by #JustSecurity, the admin…has lost in 36 of 56 cases decided so far in the federal district courts & not yet subject to appellate rulings. It has lost in 10 of 15 cases that have been decided at the next level of review, the federal circuit courts of appeals.
#law #felon47
https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/has-trumps-legal-strategy-backfired
As Trump’s tariffs send the world reeling, the European Union is declaring a new strategic partnership with Central Asia. Read more from @euronews
https://flip.it/nqLBF3
#Trump #Asia #CentralAsia #Tariffs #Trade
#kleptocracy & #corruption on full display:
Exclusive: #SpaceX, #ULA to clinch multibillion-dollar #Pentagon launch contract
#ElonMusk's SpaceX & United Launch Alliance are expected to each win a #US #SpaceForce rocket launch contract on Friday worth billions of dollars over the next several years to send some of the Pentagon's most sensitive #satellites into #space, acc/to 2 people familiar w/the procurement decision.
#law #Trump #broligarchy #plutocracy #USpol
https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/spacex-ula-expected-clinch-multibillion-dollar-contract-key-pentagon-launch-2025-04-04/
#TACO #Trump always chickens out.
🐔🌮
Aaron Rupar:
Trump gives away the game that there is literally no process to his tariff announcements beyond the half-baked thoughts flitting through his head:
Trump on the announcement he just made to increase steel #tariffs to 50%: "I said to the group, 'Would you rather have a 40% increase?' Because I was thinking about 40 when I came. I said, 'Would you rather have a 40% or a 50%?' They said, 'Well take 50!' ... so congratulations."
More of this please:
The #NY State #Education Dept issued a defiant response to #Trump’s threats to pull federal #funding from #PublicSchools over #diversity, #equity & #inclusion programs, a remarkable departure from recent conciliatory approaches of other institutions. A day earlier, the federal govt issued a memo to education ofcls across the nation, telling them to confirm the elimination of all programs it argues *unfairly* promote #DEI.
#law #democracy #FreeSpeech
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/04/us/politics/new-york-trump-dei-order.html?smid=url-share
Via Carl Quintanilla:
TELSEY begins tracking price increases over the past week. Some highlights:
* Abercrombie jeans: up 33%
* Amazon Echo: up 38.5%
* Target / Barbie doll: up 42.9%
As @emptywheel points out: " #Trump making it more expensive to plunge the shit that is clogging your toilet, quite literally."
“ #Trump border pick accused of ‘cover-up’ over death of man beaten by US agents
Former top official calls for Rodney Scott to be blocked from CBP role over handling of investigation into Anastasio Hernández Rojas’s death”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/29/trump-customs-border-protection-rodney-scott?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other