American Politics from 2019 on

[Tero]

All those voters looking for "somebody else." They won't have that in 2028 either. It will be two candidates.

"Trump created a multiracial, working-class, Republican coalition. But just three and a half months into this presidency, that coalition looks like it’s falling apart."

"Low-engagement voters — those people who don’t pay a lot of attention to the news — swung hard for Trump in November. Now, they have similarly soured on Trump, swinging more than 30 points away from him since January, according to another set of averages calculated by the data journalist G. Elliott Morris."

"White’s story, and those of the other disaffected Trump voters we talked to, should be a warning for both parties. Republicans stand to give up the gains they made last year and lose an opportunity to build a lasting, winning coalition, aided by national trends that are making voters of color and young voters less likely to stand by the Democratic Party.

https://www.vox.com/politics/412766/reg ... ff-economy

[Tero]

[Tero]

George Santos reappears!
https://www.threads.com/@tero55jarvi/po ... DgeLN6L9vw

[Svartalf]

IMG_6993.jpeg

what's that from, the onion?

[Tero]

Blacks have huge...you know what....and they also have ENORMOUS immune systems!

https://www.threads.com/@david.heath.wr ... 0WsONC1kgw

[L'Emmerdeur]

It's beginning to have the look of a three ring circus. The crypto grift by the felon president hiding behind a plane. Apparently the story told in the early days of that particular diversion was a sham. The Trump admin had asked to buy a plane via back channels and the deal was sweetened because it would be stupid not to.

In a section of another ring we have proud puppy killer Noem, the US Secretary of Homeland Security now dubbed 'ICE Barbie' for her repeated cosplay (sitting at the controls of a flying helicopter in pilot gear for instance). In a US Senate hearing, with amazing aplomb and looking gorgeous, she creates a fascist fictional definition of the centuries-old legal principle of habeus corpus for the edification of all.

Kristi Noem gave an egregiously incorrect definition of the legal principle habeas corpus while testifying to senators Tuesday.

“Habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country,” President Donald Trump’s homeland security secretary said.

She was quickly cut off by the stunned senator who had asked her to define the term, Maggie Hassan. The New Hampshire Democrat corrected Noem, explaining that the well-known legal concept refers to a detained person’s right to challenge their imprisonment in court.

[source]

[Brian Peacock]

The Honourable Kristi Noem.

[L'Emmerdeur]

She's amazingly honorable, like you wouldn't believe. Nobody's ever seen such an honorable person in any president's cabinet before.

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Just about a perfectly Orwellian: There is a 'working group' created by US Attorney General Bondi to go after former Biden administration officials and others who 'weaponised government' against Trump. Her choice to lead it is the raving dolt that failed to be get a permanent position as the Washington DC prosecutor because even Republicans said, 'Eh, no.' (Never mind that he's been replaced as temp prosecutor by Fox News's own Judge Box-of-Wine who stiffed a number of creditors during a failed political venture several years ago.)

How does the newly empowered MAGA zealot go about taking down the dastards who dared to cross his idol? By weaponizing the power of the government and his governmental position, naturally. If he's not able to gather or concoct enough evidence to mount even a farcical prosecution he's not going to let that stop him.

'DOJ Official Has a Bizarre Plan to Punish Trump’s Enemies'

A DOJ official looking for a way to punish President Donald Trump’s enemies when there isn’t enough evidence to prosecute them thinks he’s finally found a workaround: state-sponsored cancel culture.

Ed Martin, the newly-appointed head of the Justice Department’s “Weaponization Working Group‚” told reporters how he plans to go after those he thinks are guilty.

“If they can be charged, we’ll charge them,” said Martin, whose term as interim U.S. attorney for D.C. came to an end recently. “But if they can’t be charged, we will name them. And we will name them, and in a culture that respects shame, they should be people that are ashamed.”

“That’s the way things work,” he added. “That’s how I believe the job operates.”

Trump has a long list of people he wants investigated, arrested, or prosecuted—from Bruce Springsteen and Kamala Harris to pollsters who show his approval rating sinking, as well as prosecutors who have worked on cases against him, such as New York Attorney General Letitia James and former Special Counsel Jack Smith.

But Martin’s plan flies in the face of the DOJ’s mission to prosecute crimes, rather than individuals, and seemingly violates department rules requiring “fair, evenhanded” investigations that protect the privacy and reputation of uncharged subjects.

[Tero]

How soon till Trump screams to "arrest that reporter" at press conferences?

[rainbow]

How soon till Trump screams to "arrest that reporter" at press conferences?

[Tero]

!!

[Tero]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/i ... ment-cuts/

The "Post" team focus on Jacob and Jennifer Thomas who operate a small truck farm outside of Leavenworth, KS. How have they been affected? The story starts as they set up for the first "farmer's market" of the year in Leavenworth.

"The young couple had taken a 10 percent hit when the Trump administration abruptly cut $1 billion from two programs that supplied local produce and meat to schools and food banks across the country. Robust sales here would help offset that $8,000 loss."

"Plans for a new warehouse and an expansion of their farm store are up in the air because of the administration pausing, then unpausing a $750,000 federal agriculture grant. They plowed up a spot for a new greenhouse only to learn that another grant for $8,000 would never come. They worry that 2,000 chrysanthemum cuttings ordered from Canada will be ensnared in the countries’ tariff dispute."

"Though the Thomases and many of their neighbors voted for Donald Trump last November, the consequences of his administration’s wide-ranging cuts and uncertainty over tariffs have already had a profound impact on this hilly corner of northeast Kansas — one of the hardest-hit states for agriculture during Trump’s last trade war. For many, the pride they felt when the president spoke of his love for farmers in his March 6 address to Congress has given way to a growing sense of helplessness, frustration and anger."
"Before this year, Washington, D.C., felt remote, and the goings-on in the federal government during various administrations never really affected the family’s operation. Jacob considers himself a Republican but “very much dislikes Trump” and previously supported challengers like former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley. He reluctantly voted for Trump last fall, seeing him as “the lesser of two evils.”

"The first big blow of 2025 came right after Trump’s inauguration, when the president issued an executive order pausing billions of dollars in federal grants, including that $750,000 award that was part of an effort to bolster resilient food systems. The new warehouse Jacob and Jennifer planned to build could have more than doubled their vegetable output and also served as a hub for smaller farmers nearby. They also hoped to expand the farm store on their property, where they sell their meats and produce, plus homemade pies, local cheese and honey from local businesses."

"The second blow came shortly after Trump addressed Congress, asking for Americans’ patience during the “adjustment period” of tariff negotiations while predicting that “our farmers are going to have a field day right now.”

"Only days later, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it would be axing the funding for the programs that purchased local produce, eggs and meat for the country’s schools and food pantries. In the state of Kansas alone, producers are out $2.6 million this year."

[Tero]

Fuel no longer a big part of trade
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/cha ... e-deficit/

[Tero]

Climate change fails to keep top spot in threats to human life, now topped by Trump.

"In his writing, Wright concludes that climate change is real but not nearly the greatest threat to human life; energy poverty presents a far more pressing problem; and fossil fuels are essential to help the vast majority of the human population improve their lives."
"In her book "The Language of Climate Politics," Genevieve Guenther, a climate activist and researcher at The New School in New York City, identifies Wright’s thinking as a part of a rising trend of so-called “lukewarmerism.”

[L'Emmerdeur]

Defense Secretary Hegseth is a weak-ass snowflake bitch, offended by ship names.

'"Vindictive Erasure": Hegseth Ripped for Pride Month Order to Rename USNS Harvey Milk'

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is kicking off Pride Month by ordering the renaming of the USNS Harvey Milk, one of a number of ships in the John Lewis-class, named for the assassinated LGBTQ civil rights leader who served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy in the 1950s.

“A defense official confirmed that the Navy was making preparations to strip the ship of its name but noted that Navy Secretary John Phelan was ordered to do so by Hegseth,” Military.com first reported. “The official also said that the timing of the announcement — occurring during Pride month — was intentional.”

The Navy is also considering renaming ships named after other prominent civil rights leaders, including the USNS Thurgood Marshall, USNS Ruth Bader Ginsburg, USNS Harriet Tubman, USNS Dolores Huerta, USNS Lucy Stone, USNS Cesar Chavez, and USNS Medgar Evers, according to a report by CBS News.