Musk gave away two checks for 1 million dollars each last night, as Wisconsin’s supreme court declined to take up AG Kaul’s lawsuit. They gave no reasoning behind their decision, but promised to give it at a later date. I have heard it argued that the lawsuit was not the correct path, because it’s a criminal affair, but I have no confirmation on that.
I mean, Kaul probably should have criminally charged Musk. As Nick Cave put it in “Until the End of the World”, however, we’re in the age full of “men with big mouths and no guts.”
I’ve also heard it reported that in his 100 minute speech, he called for the elimination of the Federal Reserve, and creating a federal crypto banking system to run parallel to the US Dollar.
Frankly, I can’t find any independent reporting on that, and I’m not listening to him for five minutes, much less 100. So those can remain rumor for now.
This morning, it was discovered that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement has been revoking visas for students across the country manually, rather than leaving that decision to universities, as is the norm. While Zeteo suggests the students and universities were not notified, this does not seem to be the case. In an article I haven’t linked, several hundred received notification to self-deport this morning. It is unclear if more visas were revoked than the 300 Zeteo reports, but those 300 seem to have been notified.
These visa revocations are tied to the visa provision preventing “interference in foreign policy”. In the cases Zeteo and other outlets reviewed, this interference was little more than social media activity. In some cases, merely sharing a post critical of US policy was sufficient for revocation.
California Governor Gavin Newsom decried the ‘toxicity’ of the Democratic Party on Friday, in an interview with Bill Maher. He said the party was ‘too judgmental’ and that it ‘needs to mature’. Rich words coming from a guy who’s busily doing a total 180 on positions held for years, probably in an effort to swing right in prep for a run for President. For instance, after hosting noted white supremacist and shitbag Charlie Kirk on his podcast, he performed an encore lap by inviting Steve Bannon on.
Newsom’s descent into dirtbag is well underway; it’s hard to exaggerate just how much he’s alienating his base in California in his efforts to court the entirely mythical swing Republican vote. Any Californian can tell you, the Republicans in this state hate his ass passionately – a drive up or down I-5 will plaster your eyes with anti-Newsom signage. Even Democrats in California have basically only been tolerating him, since he’s largely ineffectual. He exemplifies the bog-standard Big Donor Democrat stereotype, with no real policy positions at any given moment other than what’s politically expedient. He’s also totally in bed with PG&E, and has utterly failed to reform them after the massive fires their collapsing infrastructure has caused.
Democrats want a fighter and someone who will stand up to fascists, not someone who will invite them on to their podcast, agree with them, and be the most milquetoast politician while doing so.
In Wisconsin, Appellate court judge Andrew Voigt denied AG Josh Kaul’s lawsuit which is attempting to stop Elon Musk’s 1 million dollar voting giveaway; Kaul has already appealed the ruling. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find Voigt’s rationale for his refusal.
In international news, Ecuador is preparing for the arrival of United States military aid in Manta by building a new military base there. This is of particular interest to me, as I have a lot of friends in Latin America, and I work with a lot of people whose families are from Latin America. Ecuador is in a somewhat precarious position both geographically and politically. Geographically, coastal cities like Guayaquil are perfect for international narco trade, and former president Rafael Correa’s closure of the previous base in Manta encouraged the narcos to move into the country from Peru and Colombia. This was further exacerbated by FARC ending operations in Colombia, which was kind of policing the southern border with Ecuador. My friends in Colombia (Medellin and Barranquilla) have said the government is still making life difficult for the Colombian narcos, so moving their goods through Ecuador is easier.
Currently President Daniel Noboa is facing off in a special election with candidate Luisa Gonzalez, who’s the protégé of former president Correa. I suspect this base is a play to swing votes toward himself and away from Gonzalez, as the country is still dealing with some serious gang violence.
I’ve been a bit busy to keep up day by day, dealing with a rather impressive volume of bureaucratic paperwork. As such, I didn’t have much time to deal with any of this moment to moment over the last week. So you get a round-up of what’s been happening instead!
First off, Trump signed the Executive Order known as “Preserving and Protecting American Elections“. This EO essentially attempts to usurp the role of individual states in how elections are administered and run, moving everything under review of the federal government – namely the Department of Homeland Security, the Secretary of State, and DOGE.
“The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of choosing Senators.”
This EO relies on two things to enforce its’ bullshit: the willing compliance of States, and the threat of federal funding being withheld. We’ll see how callow individual states are soon, I suppose.
Trump also told automakers in the United States not to increase prices due to his tariffs. I don’t know how he expects that to go; no corporation is gonna eat a massive loss on every item sold just because they want to appease his ego – at least not for long. If they can’t make money selling cars, it won’t matter if he’s mad at them or not. Obviously, this signals he knows his tariffs are shit that will hurt consumers in the United States, but we already knew he didn’t give a shit about them.
Still, seeing it in the open is good, just so there’s some kind of public acknowledgement of this rank insanity.
There was also a Trump EO that basically orders the Smithsonian and other federal museums/monuments to enforce white supremacist history, re-erect confederate monuments, strip anything uncomfortable (i.e. accurate) from their displays, and re-write the history of the USA to be pro white people. Among the more offensive things in the EO is the demand that race be identified as a quantifiable, genetic reality, rather than something socially constructed and understood. Note: this isn’t ‘some people have dark skin’ type of race, but the notion that there are identifiable, distinct ‘races’ of human beings.
The EO also risks shutting down any museum dedicated to non-white history, under the guise of ‘protecting’ us from “racially divisive exhibits.”
JD Vance addressed Greenland while there with his wife, saying both that Greenland hadn’t been treated very well by Denmark and that only the United States will respect their rights. Funny way to show it, by simultaneously threatening them by (essentially) saying “The United States will get Greenland no matter what.” That’ll be a shitshow of epic proportions if it happens. I’m not wasting any more time on JD Vance, though.
ICE is disappearing students around the United States for political speech. We’re up to 8 at least now, and in each case these students were targeted for things like writing Op-Eds in their student newspaper, engaging in protest or other protected speech, or generally saying stuff the Trump administration doesn’t agree with. They’re being taken while on the streets by ICE agents who are usually out of uniform, masked, and who only identify themselves as ‘police’ – which, I should note, is fucking terrifying.
ICE is trying to deny all of these students their day in court before an immigration judge, and Rubio is trying to deport them without due process, all because they said some uncomfortable truths about the United States and Israel.
In Wisconsin, paying for voter turnout is explicitly against state law, and it seems Wisconsin isn’t having any of his shit. He deleted his tweet advertising this, but many people captured it before it vanished. I doubt anything will happen legally, but I sure hope Wisconsin tries. We don’t need any centibillionaires messing around with out already broken political system.
I suppose we shall see what horrors next week brings. Stay safe out there.
My apologies for some incorrect information on the previous post. I had said that Gabbard and others would have had to have been using a private phone rather than government issued because Signal couldn’t be loaded onto their phones. That was the policy of the previous admin (though the military has been using Signal on their phones plenty). The current admin pre-loads Signal on their official phones. I have corrected this in the previous post.
When questioned by the Senate, Tulsi Gabbard and John Ratcliffe said there was no classified information in the chats. When addressing the Senate, they agreed with Secretary of Defense Hegseth (who had not addressed the Senate) and said there was no discussion of military operations, descriptions of targets, specifics of military platforms or ordnance to be used. Trump himself said the chat contained no classified information. Hegseth accused Goldberg of making the whole thing up. They essentially said, “Pshaw, can’t trust this guy, he’s a big fucking liar.”
In summation, there was specific information about what targets were to be struck, what aircraft, drones, and cruise missiles were to be used and when, and against whom.
Ratcliffe and Gabbard perjured themselves in front of the Senate, and it was shown to be provably so less than 24 hours later.
I didn’t expect anything else from this admin. They will blatantly lie to our faces and the faces of Congress because they have seen there are no repercussions for doing so. They did not expect The Atlantic to call their bluff. I have no doubt they will somehow try to punish both Goldberg and The Atlantic for backing them into a corner over their mistakes. What’s more, none of them as yet has admitted wrongdoing, owned up to anything, or even suggested they could do things differently and/or better in the future. They are seemingly incapable of it.
Mike Waltz is even suggesting that Goldberg “hacked” his way into the Signal group. You sure about that, chief?
Cuz that sure looks like one Michael Waltz, National Security Advisor, directly added Goldberg to the group.
Even if that’s not true, and Goldberg – the editor of a goddamn newspaper, not a superhacker – hacked his way into a meeting attended by the Director of National Intelligence, the Director of the CIA, and the National Security Advisor…
Gabbard, for her part, is claiming total amnesia about the entire affair, despite the fact that it only happened on March 15. Hasn’t even bothered to address the perjury. Evidently she may need to start tattooing her own body as in Memento to remember her day to day tasks in the office.
Hegseth has opted to double down:
“So, let’s [sic] me get this straight. The Atlantic released the so-called ‘war plans’ and those ‘plans’ include: No names. No targets. No locations. No units. No routes. No sources. No methods. And no classified information.”
No names – except easily identifiable information based on someone’s position within the Houthis and the time at which he entered his girlfriend’s apartment. No locations – except the aforementioned apartment, easily identifiable via deductive reasoning. No units – except for the specific types of aircraft and drones to be used, whose initial positions can be pretty well inferred from their known prior locations. No routes – except those that could be inferred via the times and types of aircraft by anyone with a basic understanding of the US disposition of forces in the region. No methods – except obviously being fucking airstrikes. Even aside from all of that, the Secretary of Defense acting like a petulant, alcoholic child rather than owning his own stupidity is remarkably on brand.
To quote Jim Himes, Democratic Congressman: “It’s by the awesome grace of God that we’re not mourning dead pilots right now.”
Some icing on the top of all of this: the federal judge who drew the straw to investigate this whole Signal affair is Judge James Boasberg, who recently issued the injunction against ICE kidnapping and removing people to El Salvador without due process. The same Judge Boasberg who has been targeted for impeachment by Speaker Mike Johnson for having the temerity to do his job, and who also lead Speaker Johnson to suggest congress can just eliminate any federal court they like, so that the Executive Branch can do whatever the hell it wants without pesky shit like the law getting in the way.
On a personal note, I was reminded of my reasons for starting this blog. I accidentally got into a discussion about this with a relative with whom I do not see eye to eye with, re: politics. Despite not meaning to, she attempted quite solidly to convince me the things I have seen unfold over the last three days were not, in fact, what I had seen. That this wasn’t a big deal. That this happens all the time. That Goldberg probably was a hacker. That he did release the full transcripts before today. And that nothing specific was discussed in the Signal chat.
All this despite her not having read either transcript, or knowing standard military protocol, or how OPSEC works, or even the contents of the Senate testimony yesterday. Because the tiktoks and instagram reels and youtube shorts she’d seen told her what to think. Certain things that she knows about, she’s capable of calling bullshit on. But things she doesn’t? She takes these influencers words on, from start to finish. And she even told me (in essence) that no news organizations can really be trusted, because they want views and clicks… as if the influencers don’t.
Don’t let them gaslight you or fog your memory. Don’t let them minimize what you see happening.
Keep your ability to analyze sharp – and know when to admit you’re wrong or fucked up.
In a stunning breach of protocol, law, and good sense, a plethora of high ranking individuals from the White House, National Security, and Department of Defense conducted a conversation about the upcoming bombing of Yemen over an unauthorized and non-secure Signal group chat…
Before I go further, let’s be clear on a few things. First, this whole shitshow should have taken place in a SCIF. Signal is not secure, and is known to have been compromised by GRU hackers in the past. All of these idiots were using private non-secured phones for this conversation, because government-secured phones cannot have Signal loaded onto them – due to the aforementioned security vulnerabilities. (Edit:I was incorrect about this. This was true in the previous admin, though they did reccommend Signal for non-classified commuinications. Tulsi Gabbard admitted that under Trump, government phones come pre-loaded with Signal.) One of these idiots, Tulsi Gabbard, refused to answer congress if her phone was private or government issued because “it’s under review”. Motherfucker, how is it under review if it is your own phone or a phone issued to you?
On to the meat, here.
The chat included:
JD Vance, Vice President of the United States of America
Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense
Stephen Miller, Senior Advisor to the President, seditionist, and white nationalist
Michael Waltz, National Security Advisor
Marco Rubio, Secretary of State
John Ratcliffe, Director of the CIA
Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence
Steve Witkoff, Special Envoy to the Middle East
Scott Bessent, Secretary of the Treasury
Brian McCormack, Chief of Staff for the National Security Council
Susie Wiles, White House Chief of Staff
Joe Kent, Acting Chief of Staff for Tulsi Gabbard
Jeffrey Goldberg, Editor-in-Chief of The Atlantic – invited by accident, possibly because they assumed “JG” in Signal was Jamieson Greer, a trade representative.
The conversation between these individuals (and others unnamed because they’re not in a decision making capacity) revolved around how and when to strike Houthi targets in Yemen, the disposition of forces and targets to be hit, courtesy of Hegseth, and further planning for operations in and around Yemen.
As of the time of this posting Goldberg has not revealed much of the content of the meeting, because he did not wish to put American security or lives at risk. He did share certain choice statements by the Vice President, Hegseth, and others, concerning if Europe was pulling its weight with regards to securing the Suez Canal against the Houthis, and breaking with Trump over certain matters of policy. The main thrust of what he has revealed is that the meeting would involve planning strikes. Goldberg has said the texts he captured while in the meeting provided plenty of sensitive information, though the volume of those texts is deliberately unclear at the moment.
What is absolutely clear from this Signal meeting, especially since at least one member (Steve Witkoff) was in Russia when he was added to the chat and the discussion took place, is that none of these buffoons has any business being in the positions they are. I’ve seen World of Warcraft and EVE Online guilds practice better security than them. I know college students that understand security risks better.
We already knew they were selected for loyalty and not competence, but this drives the point home: these people are completely incompetent. It’s only by absolute blind luck that no American forces have been killed, and it’s only by that same dint of luck that (as far as we know) no other information has been captured by Russia or others who have exploited Signal’s known vulnerabilities.
Had this group been anyone else but a pack of MAGA loyalists – anyone – they would already be thrown in jail, under threat of all manner of heinous shit. Hillary Clinton was hounded for years over her private email server, and all we learned from that is that she shared recipes on her unsecured devices. This is infinitely worse.
This is a carnival of absolute idiocy.
When questioned about Goldberg’s article, the NSC revealed that yes, it was indeed true, and verified the information contained therein. Trump, when asked, called The Atlantic a failing paper with no readers – a typical deflection by the asshole in chief. Hegseth was questioned about it just after he had landed in Hawaii – he was in transit when the story broke. He said Goldberg was a liar, no meeting took place, and Goldberg certainly wouldn’t have been part of it.
A little embarrassing given that the NSC had confirmed everything hours earlier.
Gabbard, as of around two hours ago, doubled down on that confirmation, suggesting it’s not that bad because nothing classified was discussed. We must take them at their word, apparently.
In response, Goldberg has said he’d be happy to release all of the texts from the conversation to the public, if there’s nothing classified in there.
Trump has ordered US SOUTHCOM to draw up plans for the invasion of Panama and capture of the Panama Canal. Articles – and Trump’s own White House releases – are dressing this up as “taking back” the canal, as if the United States were somehow owed this.
Make no mistake, this is planning an invasion of a foreign country. I mean, it wouldn’t be the first time the United States has done this, but it’s important to be clear about what this plan entails: boots on the ground, conquering their territory, for the financial gain of the United States. I’m posting this here as tracking for ‘first steps toward some bullshit’, basically.
Hundreds of protestors have also stormed Trump Tower in NYC today, demanding the release of Mahmoud Khalil from ICE custody. I would have an article link for this normally, but all of the reportage I’m seeing so far is video based and hard to extract. As of this writing, 90+ people have been arrested by the NYPD.
On March 8, 2025, Mahmoud Khalil was taken by ICE agents from his apartment and spirited away to an unknown location. Khalil had been, until December of 2024, a graduate student at Columbia University, and had acted as a liaison between the pro-Palestine demonstrators and university staff. Notably, Khalil was not at Columbia University on a student visa, but is in fact a lawful permanent resident of the United States. That is to say, a Green Card holder.
ICE agents told his 8 months pregnant wife (who is a citizen of the USA) that he had been taken to a holding facility in New Jersey, but this was a lie. Today it was revealed he had been taken to a holding facility in Louisiana. For two days, neither his wife nor lawyer had any means to contact him, and only through extensive searching could they turn up his whereabouts. Any transfer must be reported to the subject’s family and lawyer within 24 hours, but ICE has never exactly played better than ‘fast and loose’ with their legal responsibilities.
All of this comes due to Secretary of State Marco Rubio claiming the State Department has the right to revoke Khalil’s residency and deport him. Thing is, though, legally they do not. The Department of Homeland Security does, but they have to meet certain criteria:
Fraud or misrepresentation during the application process.
The comission of certain crimes.
Failure to maintain permanent residence.
Failure to notify USCIS of a change of address.
Security violations such as membership in a designated terrorist organization or espionage/treason.
Engaging in immigration fraud after getting a green card
Violation of terms if the green card is conditional (his is not).
Becoming inadmissible due to health reasons.
All of these must be proven in a court of law before an immigration judge. In no case can anyone be deported and their residency revoked without due process. Due process has not been followed in any way, here, and Rubio has grossly gone beyond his authority.
“But author,” some say, “this administration doesn’t follow the law! They’ll just ignore it!”
While this administration is lawless as fuck, it’s true, it’s important to make them work for it. Do not simply give in. What’s more Khalil is the canary in the coal mine here: if they are willing to ignore the due process of law, there is nothing preventing them from disappearing citizens as well.
No? Why not. Your citizenship is only as good as the willingness of people to respect your rights, and Khalil has rights just like you do. So it’s very important to ensure a light gets shined on this shit, and we do not simply roll over. If we do, you or your neighbors or both may suddenly be gone one day, with no warning. Khalil is important not just morally, but because our rights evaporate the moment we stop fighting for them. He’s important because the current administration is probably betting nobody wanted to stick their neck out for a pro-Palestine demonstrator. They have painted him as an agent of Hamas – for which there is no evidence, and such association must be proven in a court of law regardless.
The deliberate conflation of pro-Palestine activity, or anti-Israeli genocide activity, with pro-Hamas sentiment, is a pernicious tactic by those in power as a way to silence dissent and rally the racists of the United States to their side. It’s also cynical, and possibly fuelled by ulterior motives when it comes to the university.
Appeasing bullies like Trump and his crew never works. All it shows is that you’re weak and can be pushed around, and will cave when the chips are down.
