So…ice tried to go into the Ecuadorian Consulate, an act of war, today.
🤦♂️🤬
uspol
A few inchoate thoughts on Gas Town, since I think this example has more to it than “it’s just a meth binge/crypto scam/one-shot AI poisoning”. Part of the reason I think this is that some of the rhetoric it deploys dovetails perfectly with broader trends and phenomena, and I think it's worth pulling those out.
1. Economists from the physiocrats (18th century) onward promised society freedom from material deprivation and hard physical labor in exchange for submitting to an economic arrangement of society
2. In a country like the US, material deprivation and hard physical labor have been significantly reduced since then:
1. Economists from the physiocrats (18th century) onward promised society freedom from material deprivation and hard physical labor in exchange for submitting to an economic arrangement of society
2. In a country like the US, material deprivation and hard physical labor have been significantly reduced since then:
Though too many clearly still suffer too much, a large proportion of people live free from fear of starvation or lack of shelter
The US has deindustralized, meaning hard physical labor is not the reality for a lot of people. For a lot of people labor is emotional or symbolic (“knowledge work”)
In other words, for lots of people the economic promise has been fulfilled
It is not coincidental that “Gas Town”’s announcement post mentioned Towers of Hanoi, an undergraduate CS student homework problem that for most students requires thinking hard. It’s designed to encourage a kind of “eureka” moment where recursion as a computer programming technique becomes more clear. GT claims to fulfill the promise of not having to think hard like this anymore: the LLMs will do that thinking for you
It is not coincidental that Gas Town is described as being very expensive. Economic power in the form of asset accumulation is what earns you freedom in this way of conceiving things. If you want the freedom from having to think hard, you’d better accumulate assets
Since the promise is greater collective freedom, endeavoring to accumulate assets is, in this view, a collective good
This differs from effective altruism and other “do good by doing well” conceptions. Rather, the very mechanism of economics produces collective wealth, so the story goes, which means the more active one is as an economic agent, the more collective good one produces (“wealth” and “good” being conflated)
Accumulation of assets is the scorecard, so to speak, of such enhanced economic activity, and the individual reward can then be freedom from having to think hard
Lotka’s maximum power principle (supposedly) dictates that those entities that transform the most power into useful organization are most fit from an evolutionary standpoint
Ernst Juenger’s notion of “total mobilization” brings this principle to politics/political economy/geopolitics: those nations that “totally” mobilize their national resources are the ones that will dominate geopolitically
See, for instance, the RAND Corporation’s Commission on the National Defense Strategy: “The Commission finds that the U.S. military lacks both the capabilities and the capacity required to be confident it can deter and prevail in combat. It needs to do a better job of incorporating new technology at scale; field more and higher-capability platforms, software, and munitions; and deploy innovative operational concepts to employ them together better.” (emphasis mine). In summary: the US is about to be outcompeted (lacks fitness); in response, it should go big (“at scale”, “more”) in an organized way (“deploy innovative operational concepts”, “employ them together better”)
The rhetoric around LLM-based AI includes similar language, exemplified in the GT post: burn through as much infrastructural resources as possible to produce organized outputs “at scale”, while avoiding having human beings think too hard to produce those outputs, an indication that the power was burned to produce useful organization
LLM-based AI plays a prominent role in US federal government strategy, particularly military strategy, with language about dominance serving to justify its use
It is not coincidental that Gas Town uses many orders of magnitude more resources to solve the Towers of Hanoi problem (“Burn All The Gas” Town). This rhetoric dovetails perfectly with the “total mobilization” concept
Edited 28d ago
Wild.
#Science #USPol #USScience #censorship #exile
A press release from Aix Marseille University today said that the program is for American scientists who “may feel threatened or hindered in their research,” and is “dedicated to welcoming scientists wishing to pursue their work in an environment conducive to innovation, excellence and academic freedom.”
In an interview with AFP, University management said that the invitation is in the “DNA of Marseille” values, and that it has previously invited researchers from Ukraine, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Palestine as part of a program that supports researchers and artists forced into exile.
#Science #USPol #USScience #censorship #exile
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 356d ago
I like the historian Timothy Snyder's observations about what has been happening in the US with respect to ICE recently, and why it is different from previous actions of this agency. I'll paraphrase him, so errors and omissions are mine.
Here's one point: masked thugs in mismatched camo are breaking laws that include abducting, assaulting, and executing people, and the regime is attempting to force us all to refer to this as "law enforcement". For all the many criticisms one might aim at US law enforcement, members typically wear blue, show their faces, and doctrinally aspire to behave transparently and professionally (please don't @ me with your critiques of law enforcement or hashtag ACAB comments; this is not meant as a defense, only a contrast. I've been beaten and teargassed by cops and witnessed far worse so I am acquainted with this aspect of US "law enforcement").
In other words the regime is attempting to change consensus reality so that Americans accept that the phrase "law enforcement" includes random, unprovoked breaking and entering by heavily armed masked men into homes or vehicles, assaults, and summary executions on the street, targeting all citizens. They want this to be a normal and accepted occurrence anywhere and at any time. Much as one might criticize previous administration's immigration policies---and one might really really criticize those---this attempt to shift consensus on "law enforcement" to include summary executions of anyone and all the rest is new (It is not new for certain groups; what I think Snyder is saying is that it'd be new for everyone to be targeted in this way, and for most people to accept that's just how it is now).
Snyder also points out that the border plays an important role here because it is where the country, and therefore the law, ends. In other words, it's not coincidental that the regime chose to elevate ICE. Historically, authoritarian regimes have a marked tendency to expand the lawlessness and indefiniteness of border zones to include the entire territory of the country, and the current regime is no different. Immigrants and immigration aren't the only targets here. The larger aim is to indefinitely suspend the rule of law nationwide by making the entire nation into a border zone (Recall the Texas governor kidnapping immigrants and shipping them to "blue states", a classic attempt to spread resentment of immigrants throughout the country). Again, this is a narrative move, an attempt to shift consensus reality.
So, one way to resist is to simply not accept either of these attempts to change reality. Continue to refer to what's happening as unacceptable, not who we are, etc. Continue to point out that out of control border "enforcement" has led to street executions. Continue to name these actions as the criminal acts of thugs. Continue to pressure people with power, such as lawmakers, to do the same. Not out of some misguided or naive nationalism or patriotism, but in order to keep a stake firmly planted in the ground against the forces attempting to move it. This is something we can all do.
Incidentally, all eyes on Haitian and Haitian-American people in Ohio over the coming weeks. The Haiti Temporary Protected Status designation ends this coming Tuesday, February 3, 2026. Haitians in Springfield were specifically abused during the Trump campaign. The US has a long history of abusing and dehumanizing Haitians dating back at least to Thomas Jefferson, so the Trump campaign rhetoric was no outlier or anomaly. Haiti is also one of the countries specifically named in the US State Dept's announcement about indefinitely halting immigrant visa processing. It would not be surprising if the next ICE "surge" targeted Haitian immigrants in Ohio given how the groundwork's been laid.
#USPol #ICE #history #authoritarianism #tyranny #resistance #resist #narrative #immigration #Haiti
Here's one point: masked thugs in mismatched camo are breaking laws that include abducting, assaulting, and executing people, and the regime is attempting to force us all to refer to this as "law enforcement". For all the many criticisms one might aim at US law enforcement, members typically wear blue, show their faces, and doctrinally aspire to behave transparently and professionally (please don't @ me with your critiques of law enforcement or hashtag ACAB comments; this is not meant as a defense, only a contrast. I've been beaten and teargassed by cops and witnessed far worse so I am acquainted with this aspect of US "law enforcement").
In other words the regime is attempting to change consensus reality so that Americans accept that the phrase "law enforcement" includes random, unprovoked breaking and entering by heavily armed masked men into homes or vehicles, assaults, and summary executions on the street, targeting all citizens. They want this to be a normal and accepted occurrence anywhere and at any time. Much as one might criticize previous administration's immigration policies---and one might really really criticize those---this attempt to shift consensus on "law enforcement" to include summary executions of anyone and all the rest is new (It is not new for certain groups; what I think Snyder is saying is that it'd be new for everyone to be targeted in this way, and for most people to accept that's just how it is now).
Snyder also points out that the border plays an important role here because it is where the country, and therefore the law, ends. In other words, it's not coincidental that the regime chose to elevate ICE. Historically, authoritarian regimes have a marked tendency to expand the lawlessness and indefiniteness of border zones to include the entire territory of the country, and the current regime is no different. Immigrants and immigration aren't the only targets here. The larger aim is to indefinitely suspend the rule of law nationwide by making the entire nation into a border zone (Recall the Texas governor kidnapping immigrants and shipping them to "blue states", a classic attempt to spread resentment of immigrants throughout the country). Again, this is a narrative move, an attempt to shift consensus reality.
So, one way to resist is to simply not accept either of these attempts to change reality. Continue to refer to what's happening as unacceptable, not who we are, etc. Continue to point out that out of control border "enforcement" has led to street executions. Continue to name these actions as the criminal acts of thugs. Continue to pressure people with power, such as lawmakers, to do the same. Not out of some misguided or naive nationalism or patriotism, but in order to keep a stake firmly planted in the ground against the forces attempting to move it. This is something we can all do.
Incidentally, all eyes on Haitian and Haitian-American people in Ohio over the coming weeks. The Haiti Temporary Protected Status designation ends this coming Tuesday, February 3, 2026. Haitians in Springfield were specifically abused during the Trump campaign. The US has a long history of abusing and dehumanizing Haitians dating back at least to Thomas Jefferson, so the Trump campaign rhetoric was no outlier or anomaly. Haiti is also one of the countries specifically named in the US State Dept's announcement about indefinitely halting immigrant visa processing. It would not be surprising if the next ICE "surge" targeted Haitian immigrants in Ohio given how the groundwork's been laid.
#USPol #ICE #history #authoritarianism #tyranny #resistance #resist #narrative #immigration #Haiti
Edited 23d ago
African-Americans have always knew the harsh truths about Western society this entire time, dating as far back as the slavery era. Yet white people and even non-black POC constantly silence us for speaking those truths. They are very likely to be terrified of those truths whether they realize it or not, because acknowledging them would heavily challenge their worldview and ego, their sense of 'self' or 'status' in this world.
The push to dismantle orgs like USAID and reduce foreign commitments in a calculated bid to redirect trillions in public funds toward privatized domestic infrastructure and supply chains.
The debate between globalism and isolationism is presented in ideological terms, but it's really about different strategies for wealth accumulation.
Globalists exploit cheap labor and resources abroad while isolationists exploit state dependence on domestic monopolies.
🧵
From #MEAction -
"ICE Makes Me Sick: Fund Healthcare, Not Violence"
https://www.meaction.net/post/ice-makes-me-sick-fund-healthcare-not-violence
"No more money to ICE. Restore funding for healthcare and independent living support for disabled people."
You can help!
Email your Congress rep using this tool:
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/ice-makes-me-sick/
Read the Take Action Guide for more actions:
co-sponsored by Long Covid Justice
#USPol #ICEout #AbolishICE #MEcfs #LongCovid #ChronicIllness #Disability #Resist
Edited 23d ago
“From 2005 to 2024, nearly 5,000 CBP and Border Patrol officers were arrested, according to the journalist Garrett Graff … ’The crime rate of CBP agents and offices was higher PER CAPITA than the crime rate of undocumented immigrants in the United States,’ Graff writes. Statistically speaking, ‘worst of the worst’ seems to describe CBP and the Border Patrol as law-enforcement agencies better than it does the people they’re rounding up.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/02/masks-ice-immigration/685834/
#Trump fires #USAID #IG one day after blistering report
The WH fired the independent inspector general for the US Agency for International Development on Tues evening, a day after his office issued a blistering report assessing the impact of the Trump admin’s efforts to significantly curtail the agency’s mission.
#law #aid #SoftPower #TheCrueltyIsThePoint #USpol
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/02/11/trump-fires-usaid-inspector-general/
BREAKING:
Jobs report shows a MAJOR SLOWDOWN in labor market since Trump announced tariffs in April.
We can now compare the first 6 months of Trump with the final 6 months of Biden, and it's no comparison.
Over a million jobs created under Biden, less than half that under Trump.
#Trump #Recession #Economy #Unemployment #Tariffs #Jobs #USPol
Edited 207d ago
Edited 21d ago
"We have downgraded our 2025 US GDP growth forecast from 2.4% at the start of the year to 1.7% now (both on a Q4/Q4 basis). ...The reason for the downgrade is that our trade policy assumptions have become considerably more adverse and the administration is managing expectations towards tariff-induced near-term economic weakness."
-Goldman Sachs
Wall Street is telling the #TrumpMusk regime that its approach is wrong, it must make an about face.
#Recession #Tariffs #USPol https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz61nn99eg1o
I'm starting to become patriotic for my country. It sounds stupid, but... America is trying to take our asses.
A candle for Minnesota. For the protesters across the country. For the people who are protecting their neighbors, blowing whistles, standing up for families and immigrants and civilians and children.
RE: https://med-mastodon.com/@cbarbermd/115973241364827209
🗣 THIS IS THE ENERGY!!!
“we outnumber them. if we need to hunt you down the way they hunted nazis for decades, we will. we will achieve justice.”
🗣 SOMOS MÁS Y NO TENEMOS MIEDO.
Edited 26d ago
Newsletter: Crypto reserves: no public good, no principles
The formerly anti-government bitcoin movement abandons its principles in favor of number-go-up, applauds federal plan to stockpile seized crypto with no clear benefit to national interest
https://www.citationneeded.news/crypto-reserves-no-public-good-no-principles/
Thanks to Melissa Hellmann of The Guardian (US) for reporting on the lesser known victims of #ICE so far this year.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/28/deaths-ice-2026-
I always say that there are no moral victories in politics, and the violent stupidity unleashed by the MAGA trifecta has already been a disaster, BUT…
If any good can come from this episode of criminal incompetence, it would take the form of a vigorous public discussion of American values.
1/
#FederalReserve Chair #JeromePowell is speaking
Says #Trump #tariffs were far higher than expected & that larger than expected tariffs mean higher #inflation, slower growth.
"We face a highly uncertain outlook with elevated risks of both higher #unemployment & higher inflation," undermining both of the #Fed's mandates of 2% inflation & maximum employment, Powell said in prepared remarks for a business journalists' conference.
1/x OK-doke, Mastodon #resistance peeps. Several morning 🧵 to-dos in the face of the CR shitstorm and *certain* spinless Dem capitulation.#USpol #Democracy
First up:
Good (and early) “Fridays in Trumpland” post from The Newsletter with ECM with phone numbers of all Dem Senators and script too: https://open.substack.com/pub/newsletterwithecm/p/fridays-in-trumpland-3132025
Edited 347d ago
#Cancer, #Covid, & #Alzheimers #Research Could Be Lost Forever
Days before #RFKJr announced that 10,000 #HHS staffers would lose their jobs, a message appeared on #NIH research repository sites saying they were "under review."
#Trump #health #science #medicine #AntiIntellectualism #idiocracy #USpol
https://www.404media.co/nih-archives-repositories-marked-for-review-for-potential-modification/
404 Not Found / US_Constitution #trumpAdmin #USpol
Edited 1y ago
Newsletter: Dubbing it “Operation Choke Point 2.0”, cryptocurrency companies have co-opted legitimate concerns about banking discrimination to fight regulation — and Congress is buying it.
https://www.citationneeded.news/crypto-industrys-debanking-smokescreen/