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mxttqhuman.bsky.social
mxtt the secessionist
@mxttqhuman.bsky.social
89 followers 68 following 880 posts
audhd, nonbinary, anti-capitalist, secessionist. break the US into 6-12 countries.
more coming soon (hopefully).
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mxttqhuman.bsky.social
mxtt the secessionist @mxttqhuman.bsky.social · Sep 10
mxttqhuman.bsky.social
How obsessed is Trump with the Nobel Peace Prize? He now has one and it still isn’t good enough.

Post: www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/0...

USA Today: www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...
The Washington Post Headline: Trump ties Greenland takeover bid to Nobel Prize in text to Norway leader Lede: Trump's push to take over Greenland and unleash a trade war with European nations has sparked the greatest transatlantic crisis in generations. January 19 at 11:34 AM 2026 Store confirmed Trump's leaked message in a statement Monday. He said Trump was responding to a text that Store had sent on behalf of Norway and Finland, conveying opposition to U.S. tariffs against European nations rejecting the takeover of Greenland. "We pointed to the need to de-escalate and proposed a telephone conversation," Store said. The attempt to defuse tensions seems not to have worked. Trump's reply came shortly after. "Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America," Trump wrote in the text, which was first reported by PBS. USA TODAY Headline: Why did María Corina Machado give Trump her Nobel Peace Prize? KINSEY CROWLEY, USA TODAY NETWORK 5:08 pm EST Jan. 16, 2026 President Donald Trump met with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado on Jan. 15, and she gave him the Nobel Peace Prize she won just months ago. USA TODAY Headline: Why did María Corina Machado give Trump her Nobel Peace Prize? KINSEY CROWLEY, USA TODAY NETWORK 5:08 pm EST Jan. 16, 2026 President Donald Trump met with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado on Jan. 15, and she gave him the Nobel Peace Prize she won just months ago. Machado was awarded the peace prize for fighting for democracy in "the face of ever-expand-ing authoritarianism in Venezuela," the Nobel Prize outreach website states. The Trump administration at the time said the Committee "(placed) politics over peace," by not awarding it to Trump, who has repeatedly lamented he may never get it.
January 19, 2026 at 5:41 PM
mxttqhuman.bsky.social
After the passage of the Big Beautiful Bill, Trump has seemed more concerned with *controlling* the 2026 elections.

Not “winning” them.

But also, if pushed, I am sure Trump would just call Rogan “a good guy, but too soft to deal with terrorism.”

www.wsj.com/politics/ele...
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. ESSAY Headline: Is Trump Losing Joe Rogan, America's Most Important Swing Voter? Lede: The podcaster had tough words for the ICE agents targeting Minnesota By Joshua Chaffin and Katherine Sayre January 16, 2026, 9:00 pm EST In February 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson famously lost Walter Cronkite when the renowned news anchor told Americans he could no longer accept the president's assurances about the war in Vietnam. This week, President Trump may have lost Joe Rogan for the prosecution of his own war—this one on immigration. Outwardly, at least, the "most trusted man in America" may bear little resemblance to Rogan, the world's most popular podcaster. One is scarcely imaginable without a coat and tie, the other tends toward muscle t-shirts and hoodies. But in one regard, they overlap: As Cronkite was in his time, Rogan is now an essential barometer of national sentiment in a fractured and suspicious age. "He's the weathervane," Doug Schoen, a political consultant who advised Bill Clinton and is now a regular analyst on Fox News, said of Rogan. The three-hour audience he provided Trump on the eve of the 2024 election, and his subsequent endorsement, is regarded by many as a pivotal moment in that contest. Cer-tainly, Trump seemed to think so, inviting Rogan to the Oval Office. It is hard to say whether Rogan's misgivings will moderate Trump. On Thursday, with Minneapolis' wintry air clouded with tear gas and the shriek of whistling anti-ICE pro-testers, the president threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act and deploy the military. Asked about Rogan's criticism, one White House official said the administration stood by ICE officers but had "ongoing discussions with a variety of new media outlets on many topics" and wanted to keep "an open dia-logue." To some pundits, though, a wavering Rogan represents a kind of watershed moment for Trump and his MAGA movement just as Cronkite did for LBJ.
January 19, 2026 at 12:03 AM
mxttqhuman.bsky.social
ICE is the physical embodiment of the rage brewed for 26 years by Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, GamerGate, etc. You think they give a fuck about your idea of law and order?

Order in the US is no longer dictated by books filled with rules.

Order is dictated by those who wield their power ruthlessly.
mxttqhuman.bsky.social mxtt the secessionist @mxttqhuman.bsky.social · 6d
A really great and troubling look at how the gargantuan ICE budget has shaped their hiring experience/practices.

slate.com/news-and-pol...
January 18, 2026 at 6:55 PM
mxttqhuman.bsky.social
This is legit. Get your affairs in order if you are going to protest ICE.

It isn’t just the risk of getting murdered. Plenty of horror stories about their violent tactics. There is also a risk of getting jailed indefinitely or disappeared to a Salvadoran gulag.

www.npr.org/2026/01/18/n...
npr Headline: Amid ICE clashes, New Hampshire bishop urges clergy to prepare their wills Lede: The Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire told priests protesting ICE to get their wills and affairs in order. Some praise the bishop, while other priests say they never signed up to be martyrs. Tovia Smith • January 18, 2026 05:00 AM EST
January 18, 2026 at 6:17 PM
mxttqhuman.bsky.social
Preparing the Department of War to fight the “enemy within.”

www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
The Washington post Headline: Pentagon readies 1,500 soldiers to possibly deploy to Minnesota, officials say Lede: Troops with the Army's 11th Airborne Division in Alaska are preparing after President Donald Trump's Insurrection Act threat, according to defense officials. January 18 at 12:02 AM 2026 By Dan Lamothe The Pentagon has ordered about 1,500 active-duty soldiers to prepare for a possible deployment to Minnesota, defense officials told The Washington Post late Saturday, after President Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act in response to unrest there. The soldiers are assigned to two infantry battalions with the Army's 11th Airborne Division, which is based in Alaska and specializes in cold-weather operations. On Friday, Trump seemed to cool his rhetoric, saying there wasn't a reason to invoke the law "right now." He added, "If I needed it, I'd use it." The Trump administration has turned up the pressure on Gov. Tim Walz and other Democratic leaders in Minnesota, with the Justice Department launching an investigation into whether Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey have impeded immigration enforcement. Walz, Frey and other Democrats have said the move is an act of authoritarianism intended to silence critics of the administration's actions.
January 18, 2026 at 12:45 PM
mxttqhuman.bsky.social
My time living and working retail in a predominantly Chinese/Russian neighborhood was so great.

Grandmas/pas coming in with very little English. We all had patience and fun and figured out the problems. One old Russian grandpa liked to prank me.

Many Americans have lost that sense of community.
economeager.bsky.social Rafe Meager (they/them) @economeager.bsky.social · 3d
I realise I'm just a freak, but living in a multicultural city is the best thing of all time, it's just the best possible human experience and i can not understand why anyone on earth would be like "weve got to destroy this"
January 18, 2026 at 1:29 AM
Reposted by mxtt the secessionist
scarylawyerguy.bsky.social
Nothing to see here folks, just a sitting president investing in two companies whose merger he claims sole authority to approve or reject. Totally normal! 🙃
January 17, 2026 at 10:57 AM
mxttqhuman.bsky.social
What I love about this “dissent” is that there is no question that the US should be an imperial force dominating the globe.

The issue is we can’t go gloves off against middle class *white* people. Venezuela on the other hand…

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
The Guardian Headline: Republican dissent as key figures warn Trump against Greenland pursuit Lede: Congressional Republicans criticize 'absurd' idea as polls show most Americans oppose taking control of territory "The thought of the United States taking the position that we would take Greenland, an independent territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, is absurd," North Carolina senator Thom Tillis said in a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday. "Somebody needs to tell the president that the people of Greenland, up until these current times, were actually very, very pro-American and very, very pro American presence." European countries have reacted with alarm to Trump's comments, and troops from France, Germany, the UK, Norway and Sweden arrived in Greenland this week in a show of political support that one country said doubled as a scoping mission for what a sustained deployment in the territory would look like. The foreign ministers of Greenland and Denmark sat down with Trump, vice-president JD Vance and secretary of state Marco Rubio on Wednesday, but the meeting did not change the US president's demands. Trump later said that the US still "needs" Greenland for national security reasons, and on Friday, the president warned he may impose tariffs on countries that oppose his campaign. In an interview with CNN last week, Lousiana senator John Kennedy said: "To invade Greenland and attack its sovereignty, a fellow Nato country, would be weapons-grade stupid. President Trump is not weapons-grade stupid."
January 17, 2026 at 3:16 PM
mxttqhuman.bsky.social
Something I had not considered: this could be a moment of hard ball for the short term gain of lucrative mineral/oil deals and… the ability to create more military bases. An invitation to move pieces into place for conquest.

Also, this is a really great piece.

www.newyorker.com/news/letter-...
The fear is that Trump's support could vanish at any moment. "He has dismissed international law and the interests of old allies," Bronwen Maddox, the director of Chatham House, Britain's most important foreign-policy think tank, said, in a speech in London on Tuesday evening. "It is not grandiose to call this the end of the Western alliance." I asked Maddox what had been the most worrying moment of 2026, for her, and she said that it had been the President's "casual acquisitiveness" when it came to Greenland. "That's not making light of what it's like to be in Iran or northwest Nigeria or Venezuela under U.S. missiles," Maddox said. "It's the words about Greenland. And the Danes and others saying, 'Look, you can have mineral exploration. You can have more bases. What do you want?'" She continued, "It is the lawlessness of the acquisitive instinct in the Administration and the unpredictability." Maddox spelled out the growing list of U.S. actions that are now problematic for the U.K.: Trump's… THE NEW YORKER LETTER FROM THE U.K. Headline: WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE TRUMP'S CLOSEST ALLY RIGHT NOW Lede: Britain still relies on the U.S. for so much. How long can it hold on? By Sam Knight January 16, 2026 Last weekend, I asked two British foreign-policy officials what had been the most troubling moment, so far, of President Donald Trump's world-destabilizing start to 2026. Both said (despite the British government's refusal to acknowledge this out loud) that it was the United States' seizure of the Venezuelan President, Nicolás Madure, from Caracas, in the early hours of January 3rd. Trump "surprised us on the downside," one said. "Just not having had an inkling that Venezuela was coming," the other observed.
January 17, 2026 at 12:55 AM
mxttqhuman.bsky.social
When you use AI to help you do your job you are training AI to be your replacement.
mxttqhuman.bsky.social mxtt the secessionist @mxttqhuman.bsky.social · 8d
Y’all know we are just capitalism cattle, right?

We are not people to the wealthy, ruling oligarchs, we are digits. Variables. It is why the concept of AI is so appealing cause AI doesn’t take sick days.
mxttqhuman.bsky.social mxtt the secessionist @mxttqhuman.bsky.social · 10d
There used to be a way to solve the in-office “problem” without software. It was having coworkers you see in person.

And not allowing a corporation to be responsible for 1.53 million people?

Everything is too big to fathom, we need to break it down.

www.businessinsider.com/amazon-flags...
January 16, 2026 at 5:38 PM
mxttqhuman.bsky.social
Like I said, “patriotism” has nakedly become a nazi banner.

America First!

www.propublica.org/article/trum...
Headline: Trump Administration Orders USDA Employees to Investigate Foreign Researchers They Work With by Lisa Song and Sharon Lerner January 16, 5am ET ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published. The Trump administration is directing employees at the U.S. Department of Agriculture to investigate foreign scientists who collaborate with the agency on research papers for evidence of "subversive or criminal activity." The new directive, part of a broader effort to increase scrutiny of research done with foreign partners, asks workers in the agency's research arm to use Google to check the backgrounds of all foreign nationals collaborating with its scientists. The names of flagged scientists are being sent to national security experts at the agency, according to records reviewed by ProPublica. At a meeting last month, USDA supervisors pushed back against the instructions, with one calling it "dystopic" and others expressing shock and confusion, according to an audio recording reviewed by ProPub-lica.
January 16, 2026 at 5:32 PM
mxttqhuman.bsky.social
Turns out we have an answer, Business Insider. Trump making Paramount pay is the new normal.

Welcome to the authoritarian oligarchy.

www.bloomberg.com/features/202...
Bloomberg Businessweek • Jan 13, 2026, 05:00 PM EST Headline: The CEO Playbook to Navigating Trump Lede: Pressure has replaced protocol as the White House rewrites the rules of engagement with corporate America. Trump has brought an "unprecedented personalization of government and business dealings, " says Jonathan Levy, a histo- rian at Sciences Po in Paris who focuses on capitalism and the US economy. "Trump seeks to rule patrimonially. Loyalty must be to him, not to laws and institutions. His authority is rooted in his persona. He rules by making others dependent and subservient to him."
January 16, 2026 at 5:11 PM
mxttqhuman.bsky.social
Don’t worry, the Supreme Court will have Trump’s back.

www.latimes.com/california/s...
Headline: Trump administration's demands for California's voter rolls, including Social Security numbers, rejected by federal judge By Kevin Rector Staff Writer Jan. 15, 2026 7:30 PM PT • U.S. District Judge David O. Carter dismissed the Justice Department's lawsuit demanding California's voter rolls, calling it "unprecedented and illegal" and a threat to American democracy. • The judge warned that centralizing voter data would chill voter registration and cause Americans to fear misuse of their personal information. • The Justice Department sued California and other states for voter rolls, claiming it needed the data to ensure elections are clean and prevent fraud. "The centralization of this information by the federal government would have a chilling effect on voter registration which would inevitably lead to decreasing voter turnout as voters fear that their information is being used for some inappropriate or unlawful purpose," Carter wrote. "This risk threatens the right to vote which is the cornerstone of American democracy." Carter wrote that the "taking of democracy does not occur in one fell swoop; it is chipped away piece by piece until there is nothing left," and that the Justice Department's lawsuit was "one of these cuts that imperils all Americans."
January 16, 2026 at 2:13 PM
mxttqhuman.bsky.social
Don’t forget Trump talked about fighting “the enemy within” when Hegseth brought all the generals to DC.

But yeah, keep telling me how our authoritarian regime is better than other authoritarian regimes.

www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2026/...
The Washington post Headline: Trump threatens to invoke Insurrection Act in Minnesota to quell ICE protests Lede: Protesters clashed with authorities in Minneapolis as city officials called for calm after an immigration enforcement officer shot a man in the leg. January 15 at 9:13 AM 2026 By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Adela Suliman and Maegan Vazquez MINNEAPOLIS - President Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota on Thursday, raising the prospect of sending U.S. troops into Minneapolis to quell ongoing protests against a recent federal immigration enforcement surge. Trump, in a Truth Social post, put the onus on Minnesota politicians to stop protesters from "attacking" Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Trump wrote that if Minnesota couldn't calm the protesters, whom he referred to as "insurrectionists," he would "institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State." The Insurrection Act enables a president to deploy the military on U.S. soil in extraordinary circumstances: to quell an insurrection, civil disorder or armed rebellion. By invoking the Insurrection Act, a president empowers the military to make arrests and perform searches domestically, functions that the military is generally otherwise prohibited from performing in the United States. Federal and local leaders traded blame late Wednesday as protesters clashed with authorities after officials said a federal immigration enforcement officer shot a man in the leg following a struggle outside a residence.
January 15, 2026 at 3:12 PM
mxttqhuman.bsky.social
I’m a fool! Probably the last thing Trump will ever “ask” Congress for *was* The Big Beautiful Bill.

The way things have gone, cancelling elections is just an Executive Order away. And I bet Trump would much rather take that power than be granted it.
mxttqhuman.bsky.social mxtt the secessionist @mxttqhuman.bsky.social · 7d
I assume it will be Patriot Act 2.0 that cements the “third term,” but Trump isn’t afraid to consider every option at his disposal.

"So let me just say, three and a half years from now-so you mean, if we happen to be in a war with somebody, no more elections? Oh, that's good."
January 14, 2026 at 6:13 PM
mxttqhuman.bsky.social
As loathe as I am to make an MCU reference here, a better way to describe the Trump admin is as a hydra.

This is not “a few bad apples.” They have no ethics, they just have a yearning for power.

So sure, take Noem down, take Hegseth down. It’s not the apples, it is the tree that is rotten.
mxttqhuman.bsky.social mxtt the secessionist @mxttqhuman.bsky.social · 5d
I mean, for sure take the swing. But you also need to understand that Noem is simply the face of Trump’s luxuriously funded Golden Heel.

The cult of personality has set some really false expectations amongst Americans. There will be no deus ex machina.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
January 14, 2026 at 5:29 PM
mxttqhuman.bsky.social
I mean, for sure take the swing. But you also need to understand that Noem is simply the face of Trump’s luxuriously funded Golden Heel.

The cult of personality has set some really false expectations amongst Americans. There will be no deus ex machina.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
The Guardian Headline: Democratic lawmakers file articles of impeachment against Kristi Noem Lede: Robin Kelly and other House Democrats move against homeland security secretary over ICE killing of Renee Good "Secretary Noem has brought her reign of terror to the Chicagoland area, LA, New Orleans, Charlotte, Durham and communities east, north, to south to east to west" Kelly said in a press conference on Wednesday. "She needs to be held accountable for her actions". The new push comes amid mounting national outrage over the death of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, killed at the wheel of her car on a residential street by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer during high-octane deployments of law enforcement in cities and towns across the country. Kelly, an Illinois Democrat, said she filed three articles of impeachment against Noem - obstruction of Congress, violation of public trust, and self-dealing - and has the backing of 70 members of Congress. While Noem and the Trump administration have characterized the incident as an act of "domestic terrorism" by a "professional agitator", video evidence and local officials have sharply contested that narrative. The Minneapolis mayor, Jacob Frey, described the shooting as a reckless use of power and demanded the agency leave the city. The administration has responded by sending more federal agents, as tensions between officers and residents escalate. "How silly during a serious time. As ICE officers are facing a 1,300% increase in assaults against them, Rep. Kelly is more focused on showmanship and fundraising clicks than actually cleaning up her crime-ridden Chicago district," said a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson. "We hope she would get serious about doing her job to protect American people, which is what this Department is doing under Secretary Noem." Despite rising fury among Democrats over the administration's increasingly violent enforcement tactics, the party is at odds over how to respond. House Democratic leaders have not endorsed Kelly's impeachment effort, which is unlikely to succeed in the Republican-controlled House. Other Democrats have called for using an upcoming government funding deadline to try to rein in ICE and slash funding to the agency. Kelly, who is running in a competitive Democratic primary to replace retiring Senator Dick Durbin in Illinois, has positioned herself more aggressively on the issue than leadership. "We haven't ruled anything in and we haven't ruled anything out. Everything is on the table from the standpoint of complete and total accountability," the Democratic minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, told reporters on Monday. Noem, Jeffries added, was "completely and totally unqualified" and should be "run out of town as soon as possible" but he questioned whether impeachment was "the best way to accomplish that objective".
January 14, 2026 at 5:17 PM
mxttqhuman.bsky.social
Weird, what country did the Trump admin cut off arm sales to last year?

NATO is already cooked, Trump is just grabbing as much as he can before everyone else accepts it.

FanDuel hot tip: Vance becomes Viceroy of Greenland.

But no kings, right?

www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
The Washington post Headline: Vance steps in to host White House talks on Greenland's future Lede: Diplomats from Denmark and Greenland had originally requested the meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio after provocative statements from the president. January 14 at 8:32 AM 2026 Ahead of the meeting, Trump reiterated Greenland's importance, writing on social media Wednesday that "the United States needs Greenland for the purpose of National Security," saying that its strategic Arctic location made it necessary for the proposed Golden Dome missile defense system he wants to build. "NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES. Anything less than that is unacceptable." He warned that if the United States doesn't take over Greenland, Russia or China will. The talks were expected to take place at the State Department but the venue was changed after Vance expressed a desire to be included, said two U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe the diplomatic engagement. French President Emmanuel Macron sounded a note of caution on Wednesday. He said France does "not underestimate" the U.S. declarations on Greenland and promises to "act in full solidarity" with Denmark. "If the sovereignty of a European and allied country were affected, the cascading consequences would be unprecedented," Macron said, according to a French government spokeswoman. Danish officials head into Wednesday's meeting with a red line that may be exceedingly difficult - if not impossible — to align with Washington's demands: Copenhagen has offered deeper military and economic cooperation with the U.S. but its leaders stridently oppose Trump's insistence that they hand over control of Greenland, a territory that's been part of the Danish kingdom for centuries. Vance has offered a dim assessment of the Danish government's handling of Greenland, telling Fox News last week, "I think the president's willing to go as far as he has to" to secure U.S. interests in Greenland. The vice president waded into Greenland policy last year, making a brief visit to the Arctic island in March. Vance did not meet with Danish or Greenlandic officials during his trip, but he tweaked officials in Copenhagen by stating that the U.S. would better manage the mineral-rich and strategically important territory. "Denmark hasn't done a good job at keeping Greenland safe," the vice president asserted during his trip.
January 14, 2026 at 3:04 PM
mxttqhuman.bsky.social
A really great and troubling look at how the gargantuan ICE budget has shaped their hiring experience/practices.

slate.com/news-and-pol...
SLATE Headlines: You've Heard About Who ICE Is Recruiting. The Truth Is Far Worse. I'm the Proof. Lede: What happens when you do minimal screening before hiring agents, arming them, and sending them into the streets? We're all finding out. BY LAURA JEDEED JAN 13, 2026 | 5:40 AM The plan, when I went to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Career Expo in Texas last August, was to learn what it was like to apply to be an ICE agent. Who wouldn't be curious? The event promised on-the-spot hiring for would-be deportation officers: Walk in unemployed, walk out with a sweet $50k signing bonus, a retirement account, and a license to brutalize the country's most vulnerable residents without consequence-all while wrapped in the warm glow of patriotism. At first glance, my résumé has enough to tantalize a recruiter for America's Gestapo-in-waiting: 1 enlisted in the Army straight out of high school and deployed to Afghanistan twice with the 82nd Airborne Division. After I got out, I spent a few years doing civilian analyst work. With a carefully arranged, skills-based résumé-one which omitted my current occupation-| figured I could maybe get through an initial interview. When Donald Trump took office, ICE numbered approximately 10,000. Despite this event's lackluster attendance, their recruitment push is reportedly going well; the agency reported 12,000 new recruits in 2025, which means the agency has more new recruits than old hands. That's the kind of growth that changes the culture of an agency. Many of ICE's critics worry that the agency is hoovering up pro-Trump thugs-Jan. 6 insurrectionists, white nationalists, etc.-for a domestic security force loyal to the president. The truth, my experience suggests, is perhaps even scarier: ICE's recruitment push is so sloppy that the administration effectively has no idea who's joining the agency's ranks. We're all, collectively, in the dark about whom the state is arming, tasking with the most sensitive of law enforcement work, and then sending into America's streets. And we are all, collectively, discovering just how deadly of an arrangement that really is. I shouldn't expect to hit the streets right away, the agent told me. Odds were good I'd get a support position first-something like the Criminal Alien Program office. "Let's say a local police officer arrests someone out in the field for a DUl. Extremely common. Or beating their wife or whatever-all the typical crimes they commit," he said. (The "they" here being "undocumented immigrants," and while it's extremely difficult to measure, evidence suggests that "they" actually commit crimes at a lower rate than U.S.-born citizens.) If the cops suspect they're dealing with an immigrant who doesn't have permanent legal status, they alert ICE, whose agents conduct interviews and run record checks. If this preliminary investigation suggests that status, the person ends up in the Criminal Alien Program office for processing-which is where l would come in. "What you see on TV, with us arresting people and doing all kinds of crazy things, that's maybe 10 percent. The other 90 percent is essentially doing a bunch of paperwork," the agent said. "It takes a lot to remove somebody from the United States. Some people are subject to due process."
January 13, 2026 at 8:35 PM
mxttqhuman.bsky.social
This is an amazing explanation of how the Supreme Court has had a very strong, ideologically motivated hand in shaping our current climate. And it didn’t start recently. I learned a bunch and I need to reread it.

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Headline: HOW THE SUPREME COURT BROKE CONGRESS Lede: In the name of protecting the balance of powers, the Court is radically refashioning that balance. By Duncan Hosie JANUARY 13, 2026 TWO DYNAMICS are fundamentally reshaping the structure and functioning of the American government. The first, which is quite well known, is Congress's decline. The second, perhaps somewhat less appreciated but no less significant, is the Supreme Court's ascent —its expansion of its power into areas previously thought to be off-limits. These dynamics share a root cause: the partisan polarization that has reshaped American politics over the past four decades. But the connection is deeper and more complex than that. Whereas polarization weakened Congress, it emboldened the Court to dismantle laws and, in the process, undermine Congress's ability to make laws at all, reinforcing Congress's sclerosis. The citizens and commentators shouting from the sidelines that Congress must act, fix itself, and reclaim its intended role are not wrong. But they miss that the Court has made doing so nearly impossible. The practical result is a Congress caught between paralysis and policing, mostly incapable of translating collective judgment into law and, when it does manage to do so, vulnerable to having its most significant accomplishments-civil-rights enforcement, voting protections, campaign-finance reform, administrative authority—erased by judicial decree. The judiciary, long conceptualized as a check on legislative excess, is now defined by its own excess against legislative charge. The Court's usurpation runs deeper than the invalidation of statutes with a liberal cast, though there has been plenty of that. It is curbing a competing source of constitutional interpretation, kneecapping an institution that speaks with its own voice and channels public commitments into durable legal forms. In the name of protecting the balance of powers, the Court is radically refashioning that balance, claiming for itself the final and exclusive authority not only over which laws stand but over who gets to say what the Constitution means. THE RELATIONSHIP between Congress and the Court has never been static. The Framers imagined a…
January 13, 2026 at 5:45 PM
mxttqhuman.bsky.social
Yes, tell me again how we are much more just than Iran.

Remember, the Trump admin has far from plateaued.

LA Times: www.latimes.com/california/s...

ProPublica: www.propublica.org/article/vide...
Headline: Protester blinded, skull fractured by DHS agent during Santa Ana demonstration, family says By Ruben Vives and Itzel Luna Jan. 13, 2026 4 AM PT A young protester narrowly avoided being killed but was left permanently blind after a Department of Homeland Security agent fired a nonlethal round at close range during a Santa Ana protest last week, according to family of the victim. In the video, at least one agent appears to fire nonlethal rounds at the crowd, hitting one woman in the leg before aiming and striking the victim in the face. The video shows the victim dropping to the ground after being shot, holding their face as the crowd retreats. The same agent then drags the victim by the hood of their jacket; they appear to be choking, grasping at the jacket binding their neck as blood pours from their left eye. Another video shows the victim inside the building, lying on the ground bleeding while agents fire what appear to be pepper balls at the back of the head and neck of a man trying to record the incident with his cellphone. Headline: We Found More Than 40 Cases of Immigration Agents Using Banned Chokeholds and Other Moves That Can Cut Off Breathing by Nicole Foy and McKenzie Funk January 13, 5am ET This story contains photos, videos and descriptions of violent arrests. ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published. After George Floyd's murder by a police officer six years ago in Minneapolis - less than a mile from where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Renee Good last week — police departments and federal agencies banned chokeholds and other moves that can restrict breathing or blood flow. But those tactics are back, now at the hands of agents conducting President Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign. Examples are scattered across social media. ProPublica found more than 40 cases over the past year of immigration agents using these life-threatening maneuvers on immi-grants, citizens and protesters. The agents are usually masked, their identities secret. The government won't say if any of them have been punished.
January 13, 2026 at 3:23 PM
mxttqhuman.bsky.social
You first need to understand that we are far, far, far, far from the United States of America you were raised on.

Then you need to understand that we communally joke about the truth that we communally refuse to accept.
January 13, 2026 at 2:59 AM
mxttqhuman.bsky.social
For sure, the things happening in Iran are “completely different.”

www.npr.org/2026/01/12/n...
npr Headline: Minnesota officials sue to block Trump's immigration crackdown as enforcement intensifies Lede: More than 2,000 federal immigration agents are in Minnesota, and that number is expected to increase. On Monday, an NPR reporter witnessed multiple instances where immigration agents drove around Minneapolis — and in parking lots of big box stores — and randomly questioned people about their immigration status. Sergio Martínez-Beltrán, Meg Anderson • January 12, 2026 06:51 PM EST "Thousands of armed and masked DHS agents have stormed the Twin Cities to conduct militarized raids and carry out dangerous, illegal, and unconstitutional stops and arrests in sensitive public places, including schools and hospitals-all under the guise of lawful immigration enforcement," the lawsuit says. The complaint also alleges that immigration agents have engaged in racial profiling. In a statement, Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin accused Ellison of "prioritizing politics over public safety," and called the allegations of racial profiling false, saying, . "Law enforcement uses 'reasonable suspicion' to make arrests, as protected under the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution." "President Trump's job is to protect the American people and enforce the law - no matter who your mayor, governor, or state attorney general is," McLaughlin said. "That's what the Trump administration is doing; we have the Constitution on our side on this, and we look forward to proving that in court." More than 2,000 federal immigration agents are in Minnesota, and that number is expected to increase. On Monday, an NPR reporter witnessed multiple instances where immigration agents drove around Minneapolis and questioned people about their immigration status. Some took place in the parking lots of big box stores. In a statement, DHS's McLaughlin said, "ICE does not randomly arrest people or conduct operations without specific objectives. Nor does federal law enforcement execute operations without undergoing proper procedure, such as securing warrants when necessary." These tactics are highly unusual. In the past, immigration enforcement agencies had focused on targeted operations. But the Trump administration has appeared to have shifted its tactics and, in Minnesota, become even more aggressive with its immigration crackdown. Vice President JD Vance said in a press conference recently that immigration agents were also going door to door in an attempt to find undocumented immigrants.
January 13, 2026 at 12:33 AM
mxttqhuman.bsky.social
Welcome to the United States of America where $260 billion dollars ($260,000,000,000) is *not enough money for people.*

They have to flee to Florida so they can *hoard more wealth.*

www.wired.com/story/backch...
WIRED Headline: Billionaires Panic Over California's Proposed Wealth Tax Lede: Larry Page's apparent Florida move highlights how seriously the ultra-rich are taking a one-time tax aimed at extreme wealth inequality. STEVEN LEVY 01.09.26 11:01 AM DID CALIFORNIA LOSE Larry Page? The Google and Alphabet cofounder, who left day-to-day operations in 2019, has seen his net worth soar in the years since-from around $50 billion at the time of his departure to somewhere approximating $260 billion today. (Leaving his job clearly didn't hurt his wallet.) Last year, a proposed ballot initiative in California threatened billionaires like Page with a one-time 5 percent wealth tax— prompting some of them to consider leaving the state before the end of the year, when the tax, if passed, would retroactively kick in. Page seems to have been one of those defectors; The Wall Street Journal reported that he recently spent more than $170 million on two homes in Miami. The article also indicated his cofounder Sergey Brin also might become a Florida man. Still, when considered as a percentage of income, even the big sums paid by some billionaires are way lower than the tax rates many teachers, accountants, and plumbers pay every year. If Musk, currently worth an estimated $716 billion, had to pay a 5 percent wealth tax, he'd probably manage to scrape by with a $680 billion nest egg-enough to buy Ford, General Motors, Toyota, and Mercedes, and still remain the world's richest person. (In any case, he's safe from California taxes; a few years ago he moved to Texas.) California's politicians, including Governor Gavin Newsom, are generally opposed to the initiative. A glaring exception is Representative Ro Khanna, who said to WIRED in a statement that he's on board with "a modest wealth tax on billionaires to deal with staggering inequality and to make sure people have healthcare."
January 12, 2026 at 9:50 PM
mxttqhuman.bsky.social
I assume it will be Patriot Act 2.0 that cements the “third term,” but Trump isn’t afraid to consider every option at his disposal.

"So let me just say, three and a half years from now-so you mean, if we happen to be in a war with somebody, no more elections? Oh, that's good."
During his first term, he publicly suggested delaying the 2020 election, despite lacking the authority to do so. More recently, in a meeting in August with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump appeared to voice approval of Ukraine's ban on elections under martial law, prompting laughter in the room but alarm among his critics. "So you say during the war, you can't have elections," Trump said to Zelensky at the time. "So let me just say, three and a half years from now-so you mean, if we happen to be in a war with somebody, no more elections? Oh, that's good."
January 12, 2026 at 8:04 PM