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The rise of End Times techno-fascism

The rise of End Times techno-fascism

Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor write: The movement for corporate city states cannot believe its good luck. For years, it has been pushing the extreme notion that wealthy, tax-averse people should up and start their own high-tech fiefdoms, whether new countries on artificial islands in international waters (“seasteading”) or pro-business “freedom cities” such as Próspera, a glorified gated community combined with a wild west med spa on a Honduran island. Yet despite backing from the heavy-hitter venture capitalists Peter Thiel…

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Right-wing populism is fueled by economic inequality and the desire to get even

Right-wing populism is fueled by economic inequality and the desire to get even

George Monbiot writes: “He’s really gone and done it this time. Now everyone can see what a disaster he is.” How many times have we heard this about Donald Trump? And how many times has it been proved wrong? Well, maybe this time he really has overstepped. After all, his clowning around with tariffs, sparking trade wars, then suddenly reversing his position, could provoke a global recession, perhaps even a depression. Surely his supporters will disown him? But I’m not banking…

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Neo-colonialism: U.S. ‘demands control’ from Ukraine of key pipeline carrying Russian gas

Neo-colonialism: U.S. ‘demands control’ from Ukraine of key pipeline carrying Russian gas

The Guardian reports: The US has demanded control of a crucial pipeline in Ukraine used to send Russian gas to Europe, according to reports, in a move described as a colonial shakedown. US and Ukrainian officials met on Friday to discuss White House proposals for a minerals deal. Donald Trump wants Kyiv to hand over its natural resources as “payback” in return for weapons delivered by the previous Biden administration. Talks have become increasingly acrimonious, Reuters said. The latest US…

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Government spending rises while Musk’s savings are a small fraction of what he promised

Government spending rises while Musk’s savings are a small fraction of what he promised

The Wall Street Journal reports: Federal spending is higher since President Trump took office even as the Department of Government Efficiency slashes contracts, cuts jobs and ends diversity programs. A Wall Street Journal analysis of daily financial statements issued by the Treasury Department found government spending since the inauguration is $154 billion more than in the same period in 2024 during the administration of former President Joe Biden. [Continue reading…] The New York Times reports: Last week, Elon Musk indicated…

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Leaks reveal massive Israeli campaign to remove pro-Palestine posts on Facebook and Instagram

Leaks reveal massive Israeli campaign to remove pro-Palestine posts on Facebook and Instagram

Waqas Ahmed, Nicholas Rodelo, Ryan Grim, and Murtaza Hussain report: A sweeping crackdown on posts on Instagram and Facebook that are critical of Israel—or even vaguely supportive of Palestinians—was directly orchestrated by the government of Israel, according to internal Meta data obtained by Drop Site News. The data show that Meta has complied with 94% of takedown requests issued by Israel since October 7, 2023. Israel is the biggest originator of takedown requests globally by far, and Meta has followed…

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Trump is now politically badly wounded. Democracies must seize the advantage

Trump is now politically badly wounded. Democracies must seize the advantage

Will Hutton writes: The game-changing geopolitical event last week was the near collapse of the immense $29tn ­market in US government debt, threatening the stability of the American and global financial system and the safe-haven status of dollar assets. The US president boasted as the collapse unfolded that world leaders were queueing to “kiss his arse”. Twelve hours later, he was in the same humiliatingly weak position as the then British prime minister Liz Truss found herself after her tax-slashing…

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Trump admin remains silent on whether it is attempting to facilitate return of wrongly deported man

Trump admin remains silent on whether it is attempting to facilitate return of wrongly deported man

Politico reports: The Trump administration confirmed Saturday that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man illegally deported to El Salvador, is alive but confined in a notorious anti-terrorism prison under the control of the Salvadoran government. “He is alive and secure in that facility. He is detained pursuant to the sovereign, domestic authority of El Salvador,” Michael Kozak, a top State Department official, said in a two-page, written declaration submitted to a judge under penalty of perjury. Kozak’s submission came shortly…

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Team Trump is gaming out how to send American citizens to prison in El Salvador

Team Trump is gaming out how to send American citizens to prison in El Salvador

Rolling Stone reports: Donald Trump and his White House have moved to deport green-card holders for espousing pro-Palestinian views, shipped hundreds of migrants to a notorious Salvadoran mega-prison without due process (in defiance of a judge’s order), and are now publicly musing about sending United States citizens to prison in El Salvador. Trump said last weekend he would “love” to send American criminals there — and would even be “honored” to, depending on “what the law says.” White House Press…

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Why dictatorships fail

Why dictatorships fail

Anne Applebaum writes: He blinked. But we don’t really know why. Whether it was the stock market cascading downward, investors fleeing from U.S. Treasury bonds, Republican donors jamming the White House phones, or even fears for his own portfolio, President Donald Trump decided yesterday afternoon to lift, temporarily, most of his arbitrary tariffs. This was his personal decision. His “instinct,” as he put it. His whim. And his decision, instinct, or whim could bring the tariffs back again. The Republicans…

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Inside Elon Musk’s gleeful destruction of the government

Inside Elon Musk’s gleeful destruction of the government

Rolling Stone reports: Ben Vizzachero had his dream job, working as a wildlife biologist with the Los Padres National ­Forest in California. He was moving up the ladder, had recently received a positive performance review, and was “making the world a better place,” he says. Yet, over Presidents’ Day weekend in February, Donald Trump’s administration told Vizzachero he was being let go for his “performance.” Vizzachero was one of many thousands of “probationary” federal workers who were baselessly fired by…

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EFF: Cybersecurity community must not remain silent on executive order targeting Chris Krebs

EFF: Cybersecurity community must not remain silent on executive order targeting Chris Krebs

Electronic Frontier Foundation: Cybersecurity professionals and the infosec community have essential roles to play in protecting our democracy, securing our elections, and building, testing, and safeguarding government infrastructure. It is critically important for us to speak up to ensure that essential work continues and that those engaged in these good faith efforts are not maligned by an administration that has tried to make examples of its enemies in many other fields. President Trump has targeted the former Director of the…

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U.S. Naval Academy’s library is a case study in ideological censorship

U.S. Naval Academy’s library is a case study in ideological censorship

The New York Times reports: Gone is “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” Maya Angelou’s transformative best-selling 1970 memoir chronicling her struggles with racism and trauma. Two copies of “Mein Kampf” by Adolf Hitler are still on the shelves. Gone is “Memorializing the Holocaust,” Janet Jacobs’s 2010 examination of how female victims of the Holocaust have been portrayed and remembered. “The Camp of the Saints” by Jean Raspail is still on the shelves. The 1973 novel, which envisions a…

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Will Trump defy the Supreme Court?

Will Trump defy the Supreme Court?

Adam Serwer writes: America has reached a very dangerous moment, as the Supreme Court’s indulgence of President Donald Trump’s belief in his own untrammeled authority collides with the justices’ expectation that he will abide by their decisions. This evening, the Supreme Court upheld part of a lower-court decision ordering the Trump administration to seek to retrieve Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom—as The Atlantic first reported—the administration has acknowledged it mistakenly dispatched to El Salvador’s notorious Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, or…

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Migrants are being placed on a financial death list to pressure them to ‘self deport’

Migrants are being placed on a financial death list to pressure them to ‘self deport’

The New York Times reports: Since taking office, the Trump administration has moved aggressively to revoke the temporary legal status of hundreds of thousands of immigrants who were allowed into the country under President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Now, the administration is taking drastic steps to pressure some of those immigrants and others who had legal status to “self-deport” by effectively canceling the Social Security numbers they had lawfully obtained, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times and…

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