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This country, once a haven for immigrants, is now on the verge of turning into a first-class nightmare for them. President Donald Trump often speaks of his plan to deport some 11.7 million undocumented immigrants from the United States as “the largest domestic deportation operation in American history.” Depending on how closely he follows the Project 2025 policy blueprint of his allies, his administration may also begin deporting the family members of migrants and asylum seekers in vast numbers. Among the possible ways such planning may not work out, here’s one thing Donald Trump and the rest of the MAGA crowd don’t recognize: the troops they plan to rely on to carry out the deportations of potentially millions of people... Read more
Source: American Troops as Migrants appeared first on TomDispatch.com.
Peter Dutton’s plan to alleviate the cost of living crisis by allowing businesses to ‘write-off’ long lunches has caused chaos amongst the Coalition, after the decision was made to exclude booze from being written off. ”Bloody Dutton needs to get... Read More ›
Under a settlement with Ohio’s attorney general, GOP operative Pat Lee can never fundraise for charity in the state again.
The post Trump Inauguration Official’s “Phony Charity” Allegedly Pocketed East Palestine Train Disaster Funds appeared first on The Intercept.
That’s the notice that people found when Tik Tok went dark last night. Then Trump posted this: Now it’s back. In both instances its owners seized the opportunity to praise Dear Leader. Smart move. He loves to have his boots licked more than anything. They can totally manipulate him with flattery. Trump has his own reasons for all this: 2021: Trump demonized tiktok because it was useful for Chinese xenophobia and he thought he could force them to sell it to his friends at Walmart and Oracle 2024: Trump wants to “save” Tiktok to help billionaire Trump donor and Tiktok investor Jeffrey Yass and force a sale to somebody like Musk Now he’s indicating that he might nationalize it but I feel very confident he won’t do that. He’ll make sure one of his billionaire buds is in charge. He’s not even president yet.
Imprisoned Palestinian leader tops list of political prisoners whose potential release is being discussed. By Lubna Masarwa in Jerusalem and Rayhan Uddin and Dania Akkad in London. Egypt and Qatar, alongside Hamas, are using “all means available” to secure the release of Marwan Barghouti as part of the Gaza ceasefire agreement between the group and Israel, three sources informed on the negotiations have told Middle East Continue reading »
Donald Trump’s second term may not be all bad for all nations, including and especially China. For many Chinese internet users, Trump’s policies have unwittingly strengthened their country. This is why he has earned the popular nickname “Chuan Jianguo,” which means “Make China Great.” Trump’s first term made at least three notable contributions to China’s Continue reading »
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.” Lewis Caroll-Through the Continue reading »
Dear Donald, I know that you are a great deal-maker, but you will be seen as even greater if you do as I suggest. Australia is already providing $4 billion to the United States under the AUKUS deal without any guarantee that Virginia class nuclear submarines will ever be provided to it. I suggest that Continue reading »
The ABC should be the voice of reason in Australia’s society, and that reason should loudly proclaim that Australia is in the middle of Asia and it is in its self interest to act in accordance with that geographical fact. The crucial element regarding that geographical fact is that Australia not only should but must Continue reading »
We are in deep trouble, Australia. We are guilty under international law of crimes against humanity for our colonial past, our enduring racism, our mistreatment of asylum seekers and now, colluding with Israel, the United States and other nations in the ongoing travesty that is the genocide of Palestine. Humanity has gone quite mad. We Continue reading »
Dumplings on the dinner table, festive greetings everywhere, and an intriguing online adventure that keeps you hooked from start to finish. For those who observe the Lunar New Year, either in China or around the world, lying on the couch and playing video games feels like the perfect leisure for the Spring Festival holiday. Look Continue reading »
Indonesia has just become the 10th full member nation of BRICS+, the first nation in South East Asia to gain such membership. The announcement was made, 1st January, by Brazil, currently holding the revolving chair of BRICS+. Having the world’s fourth largest population (280 million with 165 million of them under 30) and projected soon Continue reading »
If you care about saving Earth from catastrophe, you might be feeling a little down about the re-election of Donald Trump as United States president. Undeniably, his return to the White House is a real setback for climate action. Trump is a climate change denier who has promised to increase fossil fuel production and withdraw the US from the Paris climate Continue reading »
Gaza, Haiti, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Russia, Syria, Ukraine, and Venezuela: President-elect Donald Trump will face no shortage of foreign-policy challenges when he assumes office in January. None, however, comes close to China in scope, scale, or complexity. No other country has the capacity to resist his predictable antagonism with the same degree of strength and Continue reading »
People who demand better won’t get it from Trump In a Seinfeld episode entitled “The Opposite” from 1994 (before my Gen Z friends were born, sorry), Jerry convinces George Costanza, perennial sad sack, that “if every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right.” George tries doing the opposite of what his instincts tell him and his fortunes rapidly turn around. The United States after instituting The New Deal built the greatest middle class the world has ever seen. Then after social and political reforms of the 1960s opened more opportunity to Americans still lagging behind, business interests organized a quiet counterrevolution to do the opposite. The rich got their taxes cut under Ronald Reagan and fat cats got even fatter. Upward mobility stopped. Wages stagnated. President Bill Clinton loosened banking regulations opening the door for mortgage-backed securities and the subprime mortgage crisis. President George W. Bush, the supposed apotheosis of the grandees’ grand designs, cut their taxes even more and the economy crashed, impoverishing average Americans even more.
Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – January 19, 2025
By Tony Wikrent
Strategic Political Economy
Can nonviolent struggle defeat a dictator? This database emphatically says yes
[Waging Non-Violence, via Naked Capitalism Water Cooler 01-14-2024]
Great Googamooga How the hell did we survive four years of this deeply insecure man-child once? How did Americans get crazy enough to give this unstable knot of personality defects four more years in the White House instead of in jail? Anne Applebaum’s account of her visit to Denmark has me waggling my head like a Lonney Tunes character. She writes that “a Danish prime minister cannot sell Greenland any more than an American president can sell Florida.” And yet Donald Trump apparently called Copenhagen on Wednesday and demanded Mette Frederiksen do a real estate deal with him. It’s Kafkaesque. Trump the Transactional seems to have generated a political crisis in Scandinavia even before his inauguration. “In private discussions, the adjective that was most frequently used to describe the Trump phone call was rough. The verb most frequently used was threaten. The reaction most frequently expressed was confusion,” Applebaum writes. It’s not as if anything Trump might want the U.S. to do in Greenland is not already doable. A former Danish diplomat related a story from 1957.
A president who has both warned of corruption and courted oligarchs sounds a final alarm on his way out of the swamp.
Reserve requirements are the latest economic fad, but do they actually solve anything? Let’s break down the myths and explains why the UK banking system is (slowly) returning to what worked for centuries.
‘New Keynesian’ macroeconomist Simon Wren-Lewis has a post on his blog discussing how evidence is treated in modern macroeconomics (emphasis added): It is hard to get academic macroeconomists trained since the 1980s to address this question, because they have been taught that these models and techniques are fatally flawed because of the Lucas critique and […]
I was separated from my mom at age 10. Donald Trump's reelection has reignited my family's fears.
The post Why My Memories of Being Taken From My Mom at the Border Came Flooding Back appeared first on The Intercept.