@joshuafaile
(he/him) Neurodivergent Social Democrat in Maine working to build a diverse, equitable, and inclusive world. Economist by training, Spanish-English-American by birth, and antifascist by moral imperative. We must act now before it is too late.
SHOULD THE U.S. GIVE INTO THE QUICKLY MOUNTING EXISTENTIAL HORROR OF THE CURRENT MOMENT AND FALL INTO THE WARM, DARK EMBRACE OF CTHULHU, BRINGING ABOUT THE COLD DEATH OF THE UNIVERSE? - Gallup 2/21/26-3/6/26
NO - 34%
YES - 33%
UNSURE - 33%
Margin of Error: ± ∞ dread
SHOULD THE U.S. GIVE INTO THE QUICKLY MOUNTING EXISTENTIAL HORROR OF THE CURRENT MOMENT AND FALL INTO THE WARM, DARK EMBRACE OF CTHULHU, BRINGING ABOUT THE COLD DEATH OF THE UNIVERSE? - Gallup 2/21/26-3/6/26
NO - 34%
YES - 33%
UNSURE - 33%
Margin of Error: ± ∞ dread
US Customs and Border Protection may *actually* be unable to comply with the court order to begin issuing refunds of tariff payments.
Why?
Because US Treasury accounts have probably been falsified and most of the funds are sitting in the Trump regime’s emergency retirement fund accounts in Qatar.
This is a *big* negative miss on expected jobs data, but there are actually structural market factors that are likely making Feb look *less* bad than it actually is, which may be reflected in the revisions (further down) come the Mar release.
The Trump regime is rapidly crushing the labour market.
Those structural market factors—including annual new year hiring starts, BLS changes to methodology, and likely significant downward revisions in following months—will likely even outweigh the healthcare sector strikes and upward pressure on Jan/Feb figures from cyclical hiring in many industries.
This is a *big* negative miss on expected jobs data, but there are actually structural market factors that are likely making Feb look *less* bad than it actually is, which may be reflected in the revisions (further down) come the Mar release.
The Trump regime is rapidly crushing the labour market.
I think it’s informative to compare Golden’s record before and after announcing he would not seek reelection to that of Sen. Tillis (R-NC).
Both of them were horribly deferent to Trump, but only Tilis has found some semblance of a spine after announcing retirement.
Both are bad, but one is worse.
I get this all the time when people deduced that my gmail account is about 4 days older than gmail itself.
It always makes me feel equal parts OG and ancient.
The Trump regime is no longer hiding that it is a truly demented coalition of Accelerationist Technofascist Kleptoligarchs, Apocalyptic Cult White Christian Nationalists, and child rapists and sex traffickers (sometimes all three at once).
The regime is an existential threat to humanity, full stop.
It’s a relatively short listen, and other EITS fans might say it is a slightly boring answer, but I always recommend starting with their most famous album, The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place.
There is a reason it is so acclaimed and works really well as a gateway into their broader body of work.
I commend your strength to go on after that!
I need to take Explosions in the Sky off my wake up playlist—existential dread contemplation music is probably not the right start to the day.
The Trump regime is no longer hiding that it is a truly demented coalition of Accelerationist Technofascist Kleptoligarchs, Apocalyptic Cult White Christian Nationalists, and child rapists and sex traffickers (sometimes all three at once).
The regime is an existential threat to humanity, full stop.
Why is Markwayne Mullin accepting an obvious poisoned chalice position in the Trump regime?
To steal a quote about a previous morally bankrupt admin that now looks like a local branch of Good Samaritans by comparison: “The truth is, these are not very bright guys...”
That, and he’s a fascist thug.
And yet, somehow, Trump is replacing Noem with an even more massive moron eager to be the next scapegoat and resident of The Hague when all is said and done.
This is Trump’s superpower: always being able to find an even greater fool than the last to hold the grenade as he slowly pulls the pin.
We have to think more positively and “manifest” the risk!
That is definitely a shame (without sarcasm).
It appears OK passed a law in 2021 specifically to address this situation, which allows the governor to appoint a replacement of the same party affiliation until a special election can take place.
Still a desperate move, but it looks as though he’ll be quickly replaced with an AFP lackey.
Yes, it appears OK passed a law specifically to address this situation, which allows the governor to appoint a replacement of the same party affiliation until a special election can take place, which would happen this year, when Mullins was up for reelection, anyway.
Still a desperate move.
Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe Mullin would have to resign his senate seat to accept the role.
Which would shrink the American Fascist Party’s majority in the upper chamber yet further.
This is a desperation move in many more ways than one.
And Mullins might actually be worse than Noem.
A statutory ban on private equity residential housing ownership will be quite challenging to get past vested (Wall Street) interests and very difficult to enforce, given the many ways of getting around such a ban.
But I agree that even an imperfect moratorium is better than what is likely to come.
Was just reminded of this post from *8 months* ago regarding the regime’s then sabre-rattling toward Venezuela.
Turns out it’s an evergreen explanation of pretty much all military action by this regime, with the additional truth:
4) Attempt to divert attention from its (and Trump’s) myriad crimes.
To be fair, all these years later, I now understand his sentiment and it takes all of my willpower most days not to follow him into the bushes, Johnny Walker in hand, high decibel Socratic method interjection at the ready.
To be fair, all these years later, I now understand his sentiment and it takes all of my willpower most days not to follow him into the bushes, Johnny Walker in hand, high decibel Socratic method interjection at the ready.
Once had a cathartic listen to The Diving Bell and the Butterfly soundtrack on my regular evening walk from my office in Cambridge to North Station to catch the commuter train interrupted by a very inebriated man jumping out of a bush no more than ten feet from me screaming “WHYYYYYY!?”
As future economic conditions will likely hold mortgage rates higher, lead to private equity buying up more of the market, and force large swaths of the US population to sell their properties and move in search of work (or freedom)—access to affordable housing will be even more constrained.
I would also add that, given the Trump regime’s rampant and brazen corruption—and the fact that the Pentagon can’t pass a budget audit in the best of times—we’ll have little way of knowing how much of the present or future earmarked funding actually goes to the “war”, and how much winds up in Qatar.
Right at the end of this masterful rebuke from Rep. Balint, you can actually just detect the dreaded realisation that one day she won’t have the protection of the regime rapidly traveling across the few synapses still functioning in Noem’s brain, before it’s quickly replaced with crickets chirping.
