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Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of September 15
This thread is posted weekly - please try to post all relevant US political content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Extremely significant events may warrant a separate topic, but almost all should be posted in here.
This is an inherently political thread; please try to avoid antagonistic arguments and bickering matches. Comment threads that devolve into unproductive arguments may be removed so that the overall topic is able to continue.
11 N.Y. Officials Arrested Trying to Access ICE Detention Cells 🎁 link
Democratic New York governor Kathy Hochul endorses Zohran Mamdani for NYC mayor
Woooo! I'll take a bright spot in a week of shit! Thanks for sharing!
'Impeachable': Explosive report on Trump's massive crypto 'scandal' stuns observers
One of the many distressing things about the current political climate is that mindblowing corruption is just completely ignored by half the voters.
Direct link to original NY Times article, requires login
Nearly every single article I read about this administration involves this line. It's just...tiring. If we ever get through this, these "norms" need to become enforced laws.
Another "loophole" that the administration is using is swiftness of action. Our legal system is so slow that it often can't keep up with what's going on, and by the time it does catch up a lot of damage is done. I'm not sure how this sort of behavior can be prevented in the future.
Yep, that's the most frustrating part. All the systems meant to prevent this just aren't capable of keeping up with this pace, even if they weren't bogged down with corruption.
Anatomy of Two Giant Deals: The U.A.E. Got Chips. The Trump Team Got Crypto Riches.
Unreal levels of blatant corruption.
Trump adds $100,000 fee for skilled worker visa applicants
That’s $100,000 per year
Probably illegal by itself
Also there's no mechanism for collecting this
Also if the companies pay it's definitely illegal to make the employees pay it back, because that's basically how you get passport confiscation style slavery
Weren't we making a stupid fucking "Gold card visa"? Fuck.
Who is actually happy about this?
You missed the part where "this will be enforced at the discretion of the executive branch".
So play nice or else we'll take your H1B visa employees away.
The golden visa doesn’t seem like anything new. Most countries let you buy your way in.
It is new for the US though? But I called it stupid, not novel.
It’s not really new here - the EB-5 visa has existed for 30+ years and is essentially the same in principle, with the caveat that you create 10 jobs. The proposal is essentially to raise the cost and remove the veneer of job creation.
Still fair to say it’s a bad idea, but it’s important to note that there is precedent in the US for something like this - for better or worse.
Fair, but to me the removal and the cost increase are a significant enough change that I'd call it "new" even if he's just modifying an existing one for convenience. I actually missed that the executive order on that came out yesterday too (COVID vax took me out) so I'm not sure if we knew the method of the "gold card" before that.
Anyway, stupid, not novel was the point.
Social media is shattering America's understanding of Charlie Kirk's death
At this point commenting on how social media is dividing people is like saying the sky is blue, but it's still worth examining how the information landscape is evolving around Kirk's assassination. As with most news in the last 10-12 months, I've avoided engaging with it directly and instead absorb most of it second-hand from friends IRL. So recaps like this, a week or more after the fact, are quite welcome to me.
Trump Firing Top Prosecutor for Failing to Invent Fake Crimes by Foes
There is a thread of hope here, that for many things that have to go through the courts Trump's power grab is running into walls. I heard an analysis that the group Democracy Forward that focuses on bringing lawsuits has been the most effective source of resistance so far in this administration.
That's bullshit. It sounds plausible. I liked it when I first read it. But upon reflection, it is bullshit.
The Supreme Court has overturned centuries of precedent to give Trump at least half of what he wants.
Let's take the firing of "independent" heads of government departments. When FDR wanted to fire Humphrey's Executor, the Supreme court said no.
The Senate, took this constitutional interpretation, and specifically legislated that presidents can't remove certain heads without cause.
The lower courts took this constitutional interpretation, and put nationwide blockers on Trumps ability to remove certain heads without cause.
The current Supreme Court said, nah, our new interpretation of the constitution says Trump can fire most heads. Except maybe Cook. Because Cook isn't political, Cook is financial. Which is referred to as making new law out of whole cloth. It's basically bullshit. But it is bullshit that benefits the wealthy.
In fact, the Supreme Court has decided that they are the ultimate "arbitrars" (my neologism for those who arbitrarily make up bullshit laws.)
They killed the Chevron Deference. Federal agencies no longer are domain experts. The courts no longer defer to the domain expertise of federal agencies. This was during Biden, and was bad for Biden.
They killed lower courts implementing nationwide injunctions. This was during Trump, and was good for Trump.
They killed Humphrey's Executor which protected independent agencies from arbitrary presidential removal. This occured during Trump, and was good for Trump.
The Supreme Court is quick to rule favorably for Republicans (Bush v Gore) and slow walks rulings that might be favorable for Democrats (delayed rulings plus lack of Chevron Deference basically killed Bidens new health and safety regulations, and stopped Biden from SAVEing the HEROEs attempt to cancel student loans.)
The Supreme Court slow walked the shit out of gerrymandering. Federal courts now lack authority to address partisan gerrymandering claims, with the bullshit idea that only States should resolve the gerrymandering that they created and benefit from.
Why do I stress this highly partisan tendency to slow walk rulings that might benefit Democrats, fast walk rulings that benefit Republicans/Trump, and prevaricate about rulings they aren't sure about?
First, Tariffs. It's total bullshit. None of this has anything to do with unfair trade practices. But by the time the courts come to the inevitable conclusion that presidents aren't constitutionally allowed to make up tariffs, Trump will have had years to use tariffs as an economic billy club. Then they will close the door, rule it unconstitutional, because god forbid they give the power of taxation to a Democrat.
Second, Birthright citizenship. I mean what the fuck? The 14th Amendment now only protects those who can get their case heard in time by the courts.
Third, the Supreme Court will slow walk this attack by the federal government on free speech. The 1st Amendment.
Lastly we have Cook and other previously independent department heads. Trump has already fired so many people. The damage is done. He got what he wanted. The Fed is even lowering rates. Don't tell me Trump didn't influence that.
Even if he only temporarily removes Cook, he will get more of what he wants.
But firing Cook might be a bridge too far for the Supreme Court. Not because Trump is running into "deep institutional resistance" to " to wholly abandon the rule of law on his behalf."
Trump is running into resistance from the Supreme Court, because if Trump gets complete power over the Fed, he will destroy the economy, which will piss off the true ruling class.
Thanks for sharing!
It's good to remember how slowly I am getting boiled!
The Supreme Court has often been avoiding directly confronting Trump, but they're going to have to rule on tariffs soon, and that's going to be tough. I think that's a bright-line test: are they going to stand up to Trump, perhaps provoking a constitutional crisis, or lose all credibility?
But perhaps there's a way to fudge this that I don't see.
The Supreme Court ruled against trump with birthright so narrowly it was a token gesture. You don't see them doing the same with tariffs?
My understanding is that they avoided ruling on birthright citizenship so far, instead ruling against nationwide injunctions without taking it up.
With tariffs, I don't see that particular move being available, but maybe there are others? If they don't take it up at all then Trump loses.
Trump targets antifa movement as 'terrorist organization'
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Maine Secretary of State refuses federal demand for voting records
3 killed in US strike on 2nd alleged Venezuelan drug boat, Trump says
This did get me to look up the technical description of crimes against humanity:
Right-wing extremist violence is more frequent and deadly than left-wing violence, data shows
‘We can’t delay any longer’: Trump urges Bondi to prosecute his rivals (Politico)
There were a few articles from the aftermath of the Kirk shooting that I thought were worth sharing but not worthy of their own post.
This one from The Nation touches on some of the responses we saw in the media, including those that seemed to soften Kirk’s image, like this Ezra Klein essay.
There's also this terrifying piece from Wired that details the targeting of people who had anything other than nice things to say about Kirk. (Related video from the person whose name appears first on the website dedicated to tracking those people)
I feel so bad for the shooters family. They’re in this “no please we didn’t have anything to do with this we’re loyal to the empire and we thought he was too” thing going on and for me thats been the most difficult to watch.
That family isn’t scared of liberals. They’re scared of the government they claim to support.
Associative Press is also reporting on people being targeted for speaking against Kirk. The Administration is also engaging in the activity.
US forces strike third alleged drug vessel killing three, Trump says
I do hope that I live to see Trump punished for his crimes eventually.
Hegseth unveils new restrictions on Pentagon press access