Sanho Tree
banner
sanho.bsky.social
Sanho Tree
@sanho.bsky.social
Fellow, Inst. for Policy Studies. Ex-historian posting about drug policy, social justice, Ukraine, & such. Fighting culture wars since Pat Buchanan declared it in 1992. Professional border crosser. Interdisciplinary before it was cool. Personal account.
Pinned
I’ve been working full time to stop this war since last summer and the one scenario I feared the most is materializing — Trump is making a play for Venezuela’s oil. I’m not saying an insurgency will definitely form, but Trump’s ploy creates the perfect storm for an absolutely disastrous occupation.🧵
Trump: "We're going to have our very large United States oil companies go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure and start making money for the country. And we are ready to stage a second and much larger attack if we need to do so."
Reposted by Sanho Tree
This is true.
But also he acts this way about every problem, reframing the issue so he can create a solution that he wanted anyway, often with grift.
Of course the cartels are bad people. That’s not the question. The point is that nothing Trump proposed will reduce the flow of drugs because he constantly lies about how drugs are trafficked. He then gives a simplistic fantasy solution to a fictional scenario he invented. No grounding in reality.
I gave a presentation last month on the futility of stopping fentanyl at the border. My slide show on the myriad ways drugs are smuggled across the border begins at the 10-minute mark.
February 13, 2026 at 5:08 AM
Reposted by Sanho Tree
🤮😱
New: Remember Miko, the Google-affiliated AI touchscreen toy robot for young children? Turns out that until yesterday, you could listen online to the audio files for its LLM-generated responses to kids, no password or anything necessary.
AI toy maker exposed thousands of replies to kids, senators say
Sens. Blackburn and Blumenthal pressed AI toy companies about child privacy in letters sent Wednesday.
www.nbcnews.com
February 13, 2026 at 4:38 AM
Reposted by Sanho Tree
honestly tired of trying to convince people that trump's immigration policy is not really about violent undocumented immigrants or even just undocumented immigrants, but immigrants in general and even non-white people more broadly.
cool, cool. so we are sort of like citizens, but not really?
February 13, 2026 at 2:38 AM
Reposted by Sanho Tree
Ending the racist war on drugs would immediately dismantle so much of the police state.
First they lied about fentanyl in Venezuela so they could murder fishermen, invade the country, arrest the head of state, steal the oil, and topple Cuba. Then they lied about a Mexican drug drone to cover up their own incompetence. They always lie about drugs to seize more power and start more wars.
How a party balloon led the government to shut down a Texas airport
The sudden and unprecedented Tuesday closure of El Paso’s airspace stemmed from border officials firing a high-energy laser at what they believed to be a cartel drone, according to reports. But, it tu...
www.independent.co.uk
February 13, 2026 at 4:13 AM
Reposted by Sanho Tree
prohibitionist drug policy is not about drugs – its a tactic that the state uses to expand and enforce its power over all of us, throughout every moment of everyday life
Drug policy lies are the key Trump uses unlock and misuse emergency powers to advance fascism. I wish the media would assign reporters to cover his drug war lies. Better yet, hire the great journalists who have spent years on these issues and are currently unemployed or underemployed!🧵
Of course the cartels are bad people. That’s not the question. The point is that nothing Trump proposed will reduce the flow of drugs because he constantly lies about how drugs are trafficked. He then gives a simplistic fantasy solution to a fictional scenario he invented. No grounding in reality.
February 13, 2026 at 4:25 AM
Reposted by Sanho Tree
Drug policy lies are the key Trump uses unlock and misuse emergency powers to advance fascism. I wish the media would assign reporters to cover his drug war lies. Better yet, hire the great journalists who have spent years on these issues and are currently unemployed or underemployed!🧵
Of course the cartels are bad people. That’s not the question. The point is that nothing Trump proposed will reduce the flow of drugs because he constantly lies about how drugs are trafficked. He then gives a simplistic fantasy solution to a fictional scenario he invented. No grounding in reality.
I gave a presentation last month on the futility of stopping fentanyl at the border. My slide show on the myriad ways drugs are smuggled across the border begins at the 10-minute mark.
February 12, 2026 at 9:59 PM
Reposted by Sanho Tree
Trump began his campaign in 2015 by riding down his golden escalator to lie about migrants being the reason for the drug problems in the US. He knows better. He told the Miami Herald in 1990 that legalization was the only solution. How many wars can one man start w/drug lies before he’s called out?
The drug war has never just been about drugs. It's about demonizing the "other" and scapegoating a cornucopia of social ills on a marginalized groups. Watch this video I did with Bernie Sanders' office in 2018 and you can see how this tactic meshes with Nazi propaganda. #HolocaustRemembranceDay
Flirting with Fascism
YouTube video by Senator Bernie Sanders
youtu.be
February 12, 2026 at 9:41 PM
Reposted by Sanho Tree
And let’s not forget that Trump’s lies about drugs are how he justified using emergency powers to start his tariff wars — which have been essentially normalized now. How many wars will he start by lying about drug policy before the media and politicians take this issue seriously?🧵
What emergency is Trump invoking in order to justify these tariffs? There’s no fentanyl coming from these countries. Because that’s the only way the Executive Branch can impose an emergency tariff. Otherwise the power belongs to Congress.
February 12, 2026 at 9:31 PM
Reposted by Sanho Tree
First they lied about fentanyl in Venezuela so they could murder fishermen, invade the country, arrest the head of state, steal the oil, and topple Cuba. Then they lied about a Mexican drug drone to cover up their own incompetence. They always lie about drugs to seize more power and start more wars.
How a party balloon led the government to shut down a Texas airport
The sudden and unprecedented Tuesday closure of El Paso’s airspace stemmed from border officials firing a high-energy laser at what they believed to be a cartel drone, according to reports. But, it tu...
www.independent.co.uk
February 12, 2026 at 9:25 PM
Reposted by Sanho Tree
The crazy part about the Epstein Files is that so much of what's in there shocks the conscience but isn't even illegal. What we're looking at is 10% coverup, 90% impotence because the same class of people who write laws were out cavorting with Epstein.
February 13, 2026 at 2:21 AM
Reposted by Sanho Tree
Wtf did I just read? How are we ruled by toddlers
Like comic book villains. Noem had to switch planes and her blanket was left behind. “The Coast Guard pilot was initially fired and told to take a commercial flight home when they reached their destination. They eventually reinstated the pilot because no one else was available to fly them home.”
“.. Noem and Lewandowski frequently berate senior level staff, give polygraph tests to employees they don’t trust and have fired employees—in one incident, Lewandowski fired a U.S. Coast Guard pilot after Noem’s blanket was left behind on a plane ..”

@wsj.com
www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
February 13, 2026 at 3:31 AM
Reposted by Sanho Tree
This is just unconscionable man
February 13, 2026 at 1:43 AM
DEA supervisor arrested as US shutters Dominican Republic office during visa-fraud probe
DEA supervisor arrested as US shutters Dominican Republic office during visa-fraud probe
A supervisor of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s office in the Dominican Republic has been taken into custody amid an investigation into abuse of a U.S. visa program for confidential informa...
apnews.com
February 13, 2026 at 2:23 AM
Reposted by Sanho Tree
Journalists in New Orleans have no idea how their work lives are about to change for the better. Or maybe they do! Either way, wonderful for everyone involved, @hankstuever.bsky.social especially. www.nola.com/news/veteran...
Former Washington Post journalist Hank Stuever joins The Times-Picayune and The Advocate
Hank Stuever, who twice has been named a Pulitzer Prize finalist in feature writing, will start in his new role next month. “He’s one of the best journalists in the country.”
www.nola.com
February 13, 2026 at 12:56 AM
Reposted by Sanho Tree
There’s no cure for stupidity, but there are measurements
Death cult update
February 12, 2026 at 11:52 PM
Reposted by Sanho Tree
How Trump's withdrawal from Minneapolis is being covered abroad.

In Le Monde, the lead French daily, the homepage article starts with:

"Two people dead, thousands arrested, two cities shaken, and Donald Trump defeated."

www.lemonde.fr/internationa...
February 12, 2026 at 11:09 PM
I was in London for two cold and rainy weeks in 1991. The only blue sky I saw the entire time was in a theater watching Terminator 2 set in sunny Southern California.😎
Aberdeen sees sunshine for the first time in 21 days
Aberdeen sees sunshine for the first time in 21 days
Glimpse of sun after weeks of unrelenting rain marks end of longest sunless period in area since records began Aberdeen has finally had some sunshine for the first time in 21 days, marking the end of the longest sunless period in the area since Met Office records began in 1957. Residents of the Granite city in north-east Scotland glimpsed the sun late on Thursday afternoon with sunshine last recorded on 21 January. The Met Office said that 30 minutes was officially recorded in the Dyce area in the hour up to 4pm. It followed weeks of unrelenting rain in the region and throughout the UK in 2026. More than 277mm of rain fell on Aboyne in Aberdeenshire in January, about four times the monthly average, while the first 10 days of the year brought heavy snow to the north-east of Scotland. In only the first three days of this month, south-east England received nearly a third of its average February rainfall. The wintry weather is expected to continue with a yellow warning for snow and ice for most of Scotland and northern England in place until 12pm on Friday. The Met Office spokesperson Grahame Madge said an air mass called Arctic maritime air is bringing temperatures down. He said: “The snow and ice warnings that we’ve issued at the moment cover pretty much Scotland and northern parts of England. There may be some snow showers a little bit further south than that. “We’re not expecting any particularly impactful snow and the conditions will be quite brief before we get another system coming in from the Atlantic over the weekend, but for the next few days it will feel quite a bit different, as we’ve got colder air coming in.” BBC Scotland weather presenter Judith Ralston said: “With a change in weather type, we finally lose the stuck pattern of cloud, rain, and bitingly cold winds. “This finally breaks, allowing a northerly air mass to set in, bringing much drier, brighter conditions, sunshine on the way on Friday and Saturday and a few wintry showers on Friday.” Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
February 12, 2026 at 11:57 PM
Trump was trying to tell MAGA something when he said the Gilded Age was his favorite period in US history. Those MAGA chuds will never even get the chance to dance in his half billion dollar ballroom.
February 12, 2026 at 11:50 PM
Reposted by Sanho Tree
The FTC has sent a letter to Tim Cook because Apple News is too woke and needs to include more right wing content.

This would sound silly even for The Onion but it’s our current reality.
Apple faces new tensions with Trump administration
US regulator issues warning to iPhone maker about its News platform following controversy over Super Bowl half-time show
www.ft.com
February 12, 2026 at 2:50 PM
Reposted by Sanho Tree
"WHITE NATIONALISM AT YALE . . . "

"PERHAPS IT WAS TIME TO IMMANENTIZE THE ESCHATON . . . "

AMERICAN SPRING
MADE IN USA 2026

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_and...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanen...
February 12, 2026 at 11:18 PM
Reposted by Sanho Tree
Breaking News: The Trump administration repealed the bedrock scientific finding that greenhouse gases threaten human life and well being, meaning that the EPA can no longer regulate them. nyti.ms/4rSszQu
February 12, 2026 at 7:07 PM
Reposted by Sanho Tree
My God, it looks like a chicken farm. At the barest minimum we need congressional visits to observe and document the conditions.
February 12, 2026 at 10:03 PM
Reposted by Sanho Tree
reminds me of the U.S. statement at the 68th UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, on March 10 2025, in Vienna:

"I wish I could say the United States is pleased to be here, but the truth is less sanguine: this meeting means that, in certain respects, we’ve failed."

1/3

www.state.gov/u-s-national...
February 12, 2026 at 9:36 PM
The self-described “world’s coolest dictator” bet the country on Bitcoin. Lookout for the angry mobs and their pitchforks.
Walter Bloomberg: Bitcoin’s plunge has slashed the value of El Salvador’s holdings by roughly $300 million, exposing the risks of President Bukele’s crypto bet and shaking the country’s debt markets. Despite the losses, Bukele keeps buying Bitcoin,
February 12, 2026 at 6:59 PM