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#uspol

621 posts281 participants12 posts today

Republicans want to officially classify ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ as a mental illness with a new bill proposing that “Trump Derangement Syndrome” is officially defined as a mental illness

Symptoms of the fake illness include ‘Trump-induced general hysteria’ where a person struggles to distinguish between ‘legitimate policy’ and ‘psychic pathology’

Last month, Elon Musk revived the term and told Fox News host Sean Hannity he used to be “adored by the left” until they were infected with TDS. #USPol

The head of Trump's DOGE added that when he mentioned the president’s name at a dinner party before his return to the White House, “it was like they got shot with a dart in the jugular that contained like methamphetamine and rabies.”

independent.co.uk/news/world/a

#ElonMusk’s #Starlink Expands Across #WhiteHouse Complex

Starlink, the satellite internet service operated by #Musk’s #SpaceX, is now accessible across the White House campus. It is the latest installation of the Wi-Fi network across the govt since Musk joined the #Trump administration as an *unpaid* [if you don’t count all the extra contracts he’s gotten] adviser.

#law #USpol #NationalSecurity #InfoSec #technocracy #broligarchy #kleptocracy
nytimes.com/2025/03/17/us/poli

Questions about the business interests of Elon Musk conflicting with his status as a presidential adviser and major Trump donor have persisted for weeks.
The New York Times · Elon Musk’s Starlink Expands Across White House ComplexBy Maggie Haberman
Replied in thread

All of the above then brings us to last night, when Trump attempted to declare all of former US president Joe Biden's outgoing pardons "void" based on the purported use of an autopen, and treating longstanding winger conspiracy arguments about why certain presidential orders signed by Democrats (and seemingly *only* Democrats) aren't legal because using said autopen means the president didn't officially sign them into law; a nonsensical theory that has no legitimate basis in law, and owes more to schoolyard games of Simon Says than any sort of official rule or policy.

theguardian.com/us-news/2025/m

Trump makes unsupported claim Biden pardons are ‘void’ as he used autopen

"Trump made his claim in a post to his social media platform that used his abusive nicknames for Biden and members of the House January 6 committee, writing: “The ‘Pardons; that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen.

“In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them!”

I'll be honest in saying that I don't think this is a great article by The Guardian because it spends way too much time proving that Trump's autopen argument is "wrong," and that there is nothing abnormal about the president automatically producing his or her signature as part of their official duties. After all, being wrong about the law has done little to stop Trump's fascist agenda so far, and given that this is a conspiracy argument that has repeatedly been deployed by the ultra-right reactionary "fringe" of the larger Republican coalition against former US president (and Democrat) Barack Obama, a simple one paragraph debunking and a greater focus on why this conspiracy argument has resurfaced now that this same ultra-right reactionary "fringe" has become the dominant force in GOP politics, would likely have been more productive. Furthermore, the Guardian repeatedly frames this as a "claim" by Trump, when Downmarket Mussolini's Truth Social post at least, clearly indicates that the president is trying to void Biden's pardons by fiat, over social media, in a very direct sense. Legally speaking Trump doesn't have the power to do that just because he's president, and social media posts aren't legal edicts, but that just brings us back to the fact that Trump being wrong about the law and trying to rewrite it via public proclamations against his enemies, hasn't really stopped him from turning his animosities into official policies so far during his second term in office.

Given Trump's own words as reprinted here however, it is abundantly clear that he's pursuing the autopen argument to allow himself to target members of the January 6th Committee that investigated his 2021 coup attempt, which in turn ties into both Downmarket Mussolini's quest to punish officials that brought accusations or charges against him, and his efforts to seize control of the Justice Department and use it as an instrument of authoritarian vengeance for those (completely legal) activities. Here too we find the previous pattern by which the regime turns unreality into official action occurring once again; the Heritage Foundation, the same fundie fascist thinktank that wrote the Project 2025 document we can now confirm lies at the heart of Trump's fundie fascist agenda, produces a report attacking the validity of Biden's pardons and pushing the autopen conspiracy argument, Trump then immediately repeats those claims to reporters on Air Force One before saying the courts will have to decide but he thinks the pardons are "null and void," and then early the very next morning Trump attempts to literally void the pardons via fiat in a Truth Social post with no mention of courts whatsoever. At this point, all we're waiting for is the larger Trump regime to begin acting as if Der Führer's ranty argument has the force of law and the unreality cycle of transformational autocracy is complete.

Can president Trump actually get away with this scheme? I don't have the slightest idea, but the aggressiveness with which he's pushing the autopen argument, and the speed with which his larger political movement as already laid the groundwork to give it a go, strongly suggests that Trump isn't just ranting and he means to actually turn this aggrieved conspiracy bullshit into a very real attempt to persecute and neutralize his political enemies through the force of law.

The Guardian · Trump makes unsupported claim Biden pardons are ‘void’ as he used autopenBy Martin Pengelly

"HUGE red flag moment here by DOGE.
US Institute of Peace is a 501c3 - an independent non-profit entity, not a govt agency.

If DOGE can do this to USIP, what's to stop them from breaking into offices of other NGOs that receive US funds?"
-J Konyndyk

"Happening now at the USIP: "DOGE has broken into our building," acc to USIP Acting President & CEO George Moose."
-E Miolene

#USIP #DOGE #Musk #Firings #Coup #Resist #USPol

politico.com/news/2025/03/17/u

LAST DAY for public comments on anti-trans passport rules

Today (Monday) is the LAST DAY to public-commentc-protest Trump/Musk anti-trans passport rules.

You’ve got ’til 9PM CASCADIAN/PACIFIC or Midnight EASTERN time to make public comments against Musk and Trump’s hate.

There are THREE open public comment sections. If you use the ACLU’s site, it’ll cover all three. But if you want to do it directly, you can. Just do it all three places.

Here’s the ACLU’s comment relay site. It also links directly to the individual comments sections.

Go. Do.

action.aclu.orgHands Off Our Passports: Stop Attacking Transgender AmericansThe Trump administration is denying accurate passports to trans, intersex, and nonbinary people – so I’m joining the ACLU to fight back. Urge the State Department to reject this dangerous attack on our rights.
#fascism#LGBT#LGBTQ

You've got 'til 9PM CASCADIAN/PACIFIC or Midnight EASTERN time to sign public comments against Musk and Trump's anti-trans passport rules.

There are THREE open comments sections. If you use the ACLU's site, it'll cover all three. But if you want to do it directly, you can. just do it all three places.

action.aclu.org/reg-action/han

action.aclu.orgHands Off Our Passports: Stop Attacking Transgender AmericansThe Trump administration is denying accurate passports to trans, intersex, and nonbinary people – so I’m joining the ACLU to fight back. Urge the State Department to reject this dangerous attack on our rights.

Heard about one of the kids' friends (brilliant, straight A student, top notch undergrad from MIT) who just learned they were not accepted into *any* PhD programs -- not because of their qualifications, but because none of the programs feel like they can accept students at this time under the current administration. This is after one my kids is back on the job market, having turned down multiple offers to take a Federal research lab position which also has been cut. #Politics #USpol

Continued thread

Okay, so given Trump's move to undo pardons granted by outgoing US President Joe Biden so he can target DoJ officials who prosecuted him for real crimes he actually committed, and the above-mentioned pattern of Trump's aggrieved fascist ranting transmuting into official, state-recognized reality, while serving to justify oppressive action by the regime, what are we to make of Trump declaring that media outlets that report on him critically, including named organizations MSNBC and CNN, are "illegal" during that same speech at the US Department of Justice? Well, I think for starters it's safe to assume that none of this means *anything* good.

huffpost.com/entry/donald-trum

Donald Trump Claims MSNBC And CNN Are ‘Illegal’ In DOJ Speech

"The president gave a speech Friday at the Justice Department railing against news outlets he says have unfairly targeted him.

Trump singled out CNN and MSNBC, which he called “MSNDC,” claiming those outlets “literally write 97.6% bad about me” and are “political arms of the Democrat Party.”

He added, “In my opinion, they’re really corrupt and they’re illegal, what they do is illegal.”

Trump then argued that media organizations that report negative things about him “are really no different than a highly paid political operative,” insisting, “it has to stop, it has to be illegal” because “it’s influencing judges and it’s really, eh, changing law, and it just cannot be legal.”

He additionally claimed that news outlets cover him negatively “in total coordination with each other.”

Whether they're playing it cool on purpose, or not, this story is once again mostly being reported in corporate media as an extension of Trump's longstanding grievances with anything he perceives as critical media coverage and the outlets that produce it; although boutique "progressive" websites and nonprofit media have been a little quicker to realize why this isn't just "Trump being Trump" anymore and how dangerous it is to assume our new American Mussolini lacks purpose in his actions here.

Frankly, I don't think it's an accident that in the very same speech Trump previewed loyalty investigations into Justice Department officials, and attempted to usurp the power of his Attorney General by declaring himself the country's "chief law enforcement officer," he declared liberal establishment media an active political arm of the opposition party, and accused them of both actively conspiring against him, and engaging in criminal activity. What does it mean when the "chief law enforcement officer" declares media critical of him "corrupt" and "illegal?" And how much more ominous is that meaning when its set against the backdrop of a US president celebrating his election as a victory against (what is now) his own Justice Department, while promising what sure sounds like legal investigations into DoJ lawyers and officials that dared to bring charges against him?

The obviously implication here is that Trump thinks the DoJ should target and prosecute media outlets that are critical of him, he has the right to order the department to do so because he's running the DoJ, and anyone who opposes that activity is likely to find themselves purged from the department at a minimum, and quite possibly prosecuted themselves. What many of the corporate media outlets likely to be targeted by Trump's assault on free speech rights and critical media coverage have passed off as a vengeful old man "playing the hits" is actually a fully formed operation to seize control of the American legal apparatus or at least the prosecution portion of it, redefine what is a crime, manufacture consent to target his enemies with the US Department of Justice, and threaten to punish or dispose of anyone who dares to get in his way over a silly little thing like "the law." Trump may have delivered it like a drunk racist grandpa, but his speech is clearly a calculated attempt by the president to drastically expand his own powers, and prosecute his fascist agenda - whether he's doing it for revenge or not (he is), is ultimately the *least* important factor here.

This then dovetails into the methods by which Trump is actually attempting to accomplish this fascist, anti-free speech bullshit; specifically the larger narrative of unreality the Trump regime is constructing day by day. Trump is working to equate critical media with his political opposition, his political opposition with protestors, and protestors with terrorists, while his larger regime takes actions against that opposition as if what Trump is suggesting here were already indisputable truth. I hate to keep bringing up literally Hitler, the Nazi Party, and the German Enabling Act of 1933, but students of history will gladly tell you that Hitler's playbook for transforming Germany into a autocratic one-party dictatorship looks an awful lot like exactly what Trump is doing here.

HuffPost · Donald Trump Claims MSNBC And CNN Are ‘Illegal’ In DOJ SpeechBy David Moye

Good read. Argues that renewable energy is expanding rapidly, especially in China, and less energy is needed for more modern devices such as LED bulbs. Fossil fuels are on the way out.

"The US is taking a big risk by doubling down on fossils and combustion cars. It may find in the 2030s that it has achieved the worst of all worlds: left on the sidelines of the global electro-tech economy, while at the same dependent again on imported oil and gas.

"Will Trump end up being the man who blew America’s energy independence?"

#USpol smh.com.au/business/the-econom

The Sydney Morning Herald · Trump’s energy dream is set to blow up in his faceBy Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

"We can always tell" used to be a form of hate speech against a tiny group of marginalized people, indicating that they can tell if you are "a boy or a girl".

Now the same hateful ideology has expanded to cover large swaths of the American population, indicating that "they can always tell" who's an "illegal" by the way they look, leading to Indigenous First Nations people being deported from their homeland as Mexican immigrants, and tattoo artists being labeled as gang members, and therefore "terrorists", for their skin art.

This expansion of hateful ideology of course, should come as no surprise to anyone. That is why you cannot allow hate to live, no matter if it affects you or not. Soon enough, it'll hit your friends, your family, and yourself.

At the fed courthouse bldg in Baltimore are holding rooms containing little besides a single toilet. Generally, these processing cells accom a few #immigrants for up to 12 hrs. In the last few months, #ICE has been packing them full of ppl for days at a stretch, ATTYs in the area say, seemingly violating the agency’s own rules -they've🚨no access to beds, showers, hygiene products, or lifesaving MED.

HR violations: #Trump admin's MO.

#DueProcss #Detention #Cruelty #USPol thenation.com/article/society/

The Nation · “Essentially Cages”: ICE Is Using Courthouse Cells for Lengthy DetentionsDetainees report not having access to private toilets, showers, hygiene products, and lifesaving HIV and diabetes medication.
Replied in thread

@georgetakei
I wrote both my senators about this and also my congress rep.

I encourage every US citizen to do the same.

I'm under no illusion that writing letters or making calls is the solution. And I'm not sure how much it will help. But we have to make our voices heard somehow and I'm unable to go to any protests in person.

SH#t They are letting Medicare Telehealth expire March 31st, except for a couple rural things,

The Centers for #Medicare & #Medicaid Services posted a document online titled “Telehealth” that said, “Through March 31, 2025, you can get telehealth services at any location in the U.S., including your home. Starting April 1, 2025, you must be in an office or medical facility located in a rural area (in the U.S.) for most telehealth services.”

If you aren't in a rural health care setting, you can still get certain Medicare telehealth services on or after April 1, including:

:bc: Monthly End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) visits for home dialysis
Services for diagnosis, evaluation, or treatment of symptoms of an acute stroke wherever you are, including in a mobile stroke unit
:bc: Services for the diagnosis, evaluation, or
:bc: treatment of a mental and/or behavioral health disorder (including a substance use disorder) in your home
#USPol #HealthCare

medicare.gov/coverage/teleheal

:webarch: archive.ph/Nj89T

Medicare.gov logo
MedicareTelehealthUse telehealth insurance coverage through Medicare to get consultation & medical health services from care providers who aren't at your location.

#Trump wrote on social media on Sunday night that he no longer considered valid the #pardons President Joe #Biden granted to people whom Trump sees as political enemies because they were signed using an autopen — a typically uncontroversial method of affixing a presidential signature.

#ConspiracyTheories
#law #USpol #RevengePolitics
nytimes.com/2025/03/17/us/auto

In the final hours of President Biden’s time in office, he granted a wave of pre-emptive pardons.
The New York Times · Trump Says Biden’s Pardons are ‘Void’ and ‘Vacant’ Because of AutopenBy Shawn McCreesh