Congress Gave Trump the Means to Create a Police State

Making America Great Again Apparently Means Bringing Back Slavery

Now that the threshold of the Big Bullshit Budget’s passage has been crossed, it’s time to take stock of what’s coming from the Trump administration, and what means must be considered to disrupt and stymie their schemes.

For all the talk about taking a chainsaw to the social safety net, the fact of the matter is that most of those actions don’t take place until either after the midterm elections or post the next presidential contest. We’re expected to be dazzled by the falsehoods of “no tax on tips or social security”, along with a UFC fight on the White House lawn with 25,000 people attending.

Pay attention to what’s going on behind the curtain, folks. Tech companies were told last week by the Attorney General that they could lawfully violate a statute barring American companies from supporting TikTok. Why? Because the President is claiming to have the constitutional power to set aside laws, therefore the ban on the social media app must give way to his ‘core presidential national security and foreign affairs powers.’

This kind of reporting (and the fact that nobody’s raising hell about it) tells me what’s coming next is going to be worse than most people think.

Immigration enforcement is the lynchpin, both ideologically and practically for the authoritarian national security state that’s coming. The nation’s law enforcement infrastructure, currently composed of agencies with local and/or specialized concerns, will be federalized.

The peaceful July 4 protests in Los Angeles were ‘controlled’ by putting National Guardsmen between demonstrators and law enforcement. Several hundred military personnel have been dispatched to the Florida detention camp, supposedly to handle administrative and logistical matters. The border area near Campo in Eastern San Diego County is now being patrolled by US Marines.

There’s no time to waste for the Trump administration, as the financial boosts to the national security state are supposed to be spent by January 1, 2029. In three and half years the administration is supposed to use the $170.7 billion allocated to drastically expand the nation’s border enforcement and deportation infrastructure.

Ten thousand new immigration officials must be hired, screened, trained, and deployed. Contracts must be secured to ramp up detention capacity, with a combination of state and private organizations expected to build an archipelago of concentration camps across the United States. Oh, and that money allocated for building more walls can be diverted to other purposes as needed.

There are promises to expand the immigration court system, currently being sidestepped at Florida’s Alligator Auschwitz by deputizing national guardsmen to act as judges. If you haven’t noticed by now, legal niceties are optional in deportations these days.

The US immigrant detention system is composed of dozens of detention centers run by private contractors as well as dozens of county jails that contract part of their facilities to ICE.

Already the largest such system in the world, the network is growing via already awarded new or expanded contracts to at least nine facilities owned by the Geo Group or CoreCivic, the two largest detention contractors, as well as contracts to companies that house immigrants in makeshift tent structures.

Geo and CoreCivic have at least 14 more unused facilities, which could be repurposed to hold thousands of ICE detainees in states including California, Colorado, North Carolina and Oklahoma. The firms are already taking applications for hundreds of jobs they expect to fill as contracts are awarded, including an unused former prison owned by CoreCivic in Leavenworth, Kansas.

The administration’s goal is 1million annual deportations, and Herr Stephen Miller has made it clear that failing to meet targets will incur the wrath of the White House. The immigration dragnet is already ensnaring citizens, who get “detained” if they’re brown and “diverted” if they’re not brown but happen to have overt Democratic Party sympathies.

It’s no secret that the intent is already in place to start political detentions, regardless of legal status and regardless of criminality.

Once the logistics of mass sweeps are mastered, authoritarianism scholar Timothy Snyder is warning that next steps will likely include involuntary labor corporate contracts, otherwise known as slave labor. Most people aren’t aware that the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery makes an exception for prisoners, a loophole that’s been commonly exploited in some Southern States. Alabama has collected more than $250 million since 2000 through money garnished from prisoners' paychecks, according to an Associated Press investigation.

Trump is now saying he’s looking into a deal where migrants can stay and work on farms, but they’re not going to get citizenship, and the owner of the farm will have responsibility for them. Sounds a lot like slavery, no?

Snyder says the time to act on this probability is now, before CEOs are drawn by profit and silence into the normalization of horror.

• The government is putting before us the temptation to cooperate in fascist dehumanization on a grand scale. But that does not mean we must do so. This is an area where actions by individuals, by civil society, by the professions, and by companies can be decisive.

• The first action is simple. CEOs should now, this summer, this month, next week, sign a pledge not to use labor from concentration camps. It could be as simple as that: "On behalf of my firm I promise not to use labor from concentration camps nor to cooperate with any firm that does."

• I can hear the first objection: "it's too soon." If this is not done now, some Americans companies will start using slave labor from concentration camps, and then others will claim that they must do so as well so as not to lose competitiveness or shareholder value or something. The appropriate euphemisms will be found, and all will soon seem normal. But everything will have changed. We will all be implicated. And we will all be more vulnerable.

This is one instance where minor performative acts, like signing petitions could make a difference. Tesla and Target have already been impacted by an energized populace. And Snyder is right. We must not let this development get to the point of no return. I hate to say this, but the battle is already lost on the existence of these sadistic prison compounds.

Via the Associated Press:

• State and federal officials have touted the plans on social media and conservative airwaves, sharing a meme of a compound ringed with barbed wire and “guarded” by alligators wearing hats labeled “ICE” for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Republican Party of Florida has taken to fundraising off the detention center, selling branded T-shirts and beer koozies emblazoned with the facility’s name.

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It has become clear to me that the Democratic Party as an institution is incapable of providing the structure and ideological guidance needed to defeat our country’s march toward authoritarianism.

There are individuals and elected officials within the party who are sincere in their opposition to Trump and the evils he brings with him. Unfortunately, the ones who can see past worshiping the market as the basis of our political economy are few and far inbetween. And it is the vanguard of the market-worshiping billionaire class that is funding and facilitating the shift into fascism.

Advocates of the “abundance agenda,” touted in some quarters as a different path, fail to understand that the capitalism of yesteryear (and its relationship with government) has gone past seeing democracy as a viable governance structure.

One only needs to look at the reaction to NYC Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani to understand the party’s leadership/establishment’s intolerance for deviance from its slavish devotion to the economic status quo.

Even reactionary pollsters show the candidate being defamed as a “socialist” (or Muslim, in some quarters) label ahead of the morally and legally corrupt party hacks running against him, even when Mamdani’s positions are read to voters.

Here’s a concept: maybe the voters of New York City are on to something. Listening instead of gargling bile might be a good idea.

None-the-less, elected Democratic officials are skittish over being associated with a candidate who has the potential to be a leader in the resistance against inequality and authoritarianism. And the big money men in NY politics are openly plotting a smear campaign.

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Labor activist Les Leopold is touting the idea of an independent –not-quite-a-political-party union-led organization willing to run and support candidates in districts where Democrats aren’t competitive with Republicans. Such candidates in one-party districts would present no obvious “spoiler” downside for Democrats, who long ago abandoned those contests.

This thinking stems from:

…YouGov survey of 3,000 voters in the Rust Belt States of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin, 57 percent of the respondents supported a new political formation outside the two major parties; Only 19 percent opposed. This finding is especially notable because these voters were asked to support a very radical statement of anti-corporate populism:

Would you support a new organization, the Independent Workers Political Association, that would support working-class issues independent of both the Democratic and Republican parties. It would run and support independent political candidates committed to a platform that included

• Stop big companies that receive tax dollars from laying off workers who pay taxes.

• Guarantee everyone who wants to work has a decent-paying job, and if the private sector can’t provide it, the government will

• Raise the minimum wage so every family can lead a decent life

• Stop drug company price-gouging and put price controls on food cartels

Every demographic group supported this proposal, led by 71 percent of Rust Belt voters less than 30 years of age, and 74 percent of those who feel very insecure about losing their job.

There may be an element in the union movement willing to facilitate such an effort, but I’m not convinced that what should be a longer term organizing effort can be accomplished in the short window of electoral opportunities available.

Another approach, one that I’m willing to consider endorsing, is that of the Working Families Party, which has adopted a “fusion” approach, running slates of their own, selectively supporting causes, and sometimes supporting candidates aligned with Democrats.

From Wikipedia:

• The Working Families Party was first organized in 1998 by a coalition of labor unions, community organizations, members of the now-inactive national New Party, and a variety of advocacy groups such as Citizen Action of New York and ACORN: the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.^[11] The party is primarily concerned with healthcare reform, raising the minimum wage, universal paid sick days, addressing student debt, progressive taxation, public education, energy, and environmental reform.

In California, the WFP has endorsed state legislative candidates in fifteen districts. In San Diego, the party endorsed all the Democratic party candidates on the County Board of Supervisors, City Council member Sean Elo Rivera is an active member, and recruited members to participate in Rapid Response/Mutual Aid networks.

On Thursday, July 17, at 4pm PDT, WFP is hosting a virtual “Welcome Party:”

• Welcome Gatherings are an energetic space where you can meet other working people with the same vision of building a world where we can thrive, and not just survive. We’ll share our desires and vision for a political party that truly is for us and by us. We’ll get concrete about how we are building the power we need to have an impact locally and nationally in this political moment. And we can help you sort out a meaningful next step with the party. All are welcome!

I have been comfortable in my support of Indivisible, which supports activism in every congressional district in the country. Now, I’m thinking of expanding my associations.

I’m curious, having seen a WFP speaker at a recent conference. Personally, I have a lifelong aversion to political organizations, based on negative experiences with both mainstream and radical/left organizations. Given the seriousness of the political situation, I’m going to put my reluctance* aside and at least listen to what’s being said.

*I once took great offense at criticism calling out my exceptionalist tendencies in an organizational setting. Now, I realize they were right. In recognition of that experience, I would see myself as a worker bee, should I end up doing more than listening. And, of course, my health challenges (I am non-verbal) serve as limitations… So we’ll see.

As a writer, I will commit to being transparent about any decisions made concerning affiliations.

Democrats Need to Understand That Opinions on Israel Are Changing Fast by Peter Beinart at The New York Times

• Only one in three Democrats now view Israel favorably, according to Gallup. That makes Israel significantly less popular than Cuba, and only slightly more popular than China. Despite this, the party’s most powerful figures — from the minority leaders Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Hakeem Jeffries to many of the Democrats likely to run for president in 2028 — oppose conditioning U.S. military support on Israel’s willingness to uphold human rights. This places them in clear conflict with their party’s base.

• Support of Israel isn’t the primary reason that, according to Reuters, 62 percent of Democrats want new leaders. What seems to anger grass roots Democrats most is their party’s inability to defeat Donald Trump at the ballot box and stand up to him as president. But unquestioned support for Israel has become, for many, a symbol of the timidity and inauthenticity of party elites — and that leaves them vulnerable to political insurgents who don’t compromise the values of equality and anti-discrimination. That’s how Mr. Mamdani connected his support for Palestinian freedom to his broader message. “This is a politics of consistency,” he told Politico in April. “And it’s a politics that refuses to equivocate, no matter whom it applies to. That every single person deserves a dignified life.”

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The Revolution Will Be Cognitive by Caroline Orr Bueno at Weaponized

• True freedom is not only the absence of tyranny. It is the presence of sovereignty over your own mind. Today, that sovereignty is under attack not with bayonets and muskets, but with clickbait and deepfakes, coercion and data exploitation, narrative warfare and psychological abuse. If we fail to protect our cognitive liberty, then all other freedoms — political, social, bodily — become vulnerable.

• The fight for freedom in the 21st century will be won or lost in the realm of thought. To protect our independence, we must become literate in the tactics of cognitive tyranny, skillful in the detection of manipulation, vigilant against coercion, and deliberate in our consumption of information. We must teach our children to identify falsehoods and recognize that a life lived through a screen is not a life lived at all. We must call out abuse even when it hides behind smiling faces, fame, religion, “helping” professions, or badges and uniforms. We must refuse to be nudged, herded, or hijacked. We must learn to identify cognitive biases, not only in others, but in our own thought patterns and judgments. We must become acutely aware of our own vulnerabilities so that we can successfully defend them before our adversaries successfully attack them.

• This Fourth of July, my challenge to you is to do more than wave a flag or wear the colors of the USA. Make a commitment. Declare your independence not just from kings, but from lies; not just from control, but from coercion disguised as care. And not just for yourself, but for all who still struggle in silence. The revolution isn't coming — it’s happening right now, inside your mind. Your participation isn’t optional. You can either start fighting now to maintain your cognitive independence or start fighting later to try to get it back.

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‘The vehicle suddenly accelerated with our baby in it’: the terrifying truth about why Tesla’s cars keep crashing by Sönke Iwersen and Michael Verfürden at The Guardian

• Tesla’s handling of crash data affects even those who never wanted anything to do with the company. Every road user trusts the car in front, behind or beside them not to be a threat. Does that trust still stand when the car is driving itself?

• Internally, we called our investigation into Tesla’s crash data Black Box. At first, because it dealt with the physical data units built into the vehicles – so-called black boxes. But the devices Tesla installs hardly deserve the name. Unlike the flight recorders used in aviation, they’re not fireproof – and in many of the cases we examined, they proved useless.

• Over time, we came to see that the name held a second meaning. A black box, in common parlance, is something closed to the outside. Something opaque. Unknowable. And while we’ve gained some insight into Tesla as a company, its handling of crash data remains just that: a black box. Only Tesla knows how Elon Musk’s vehicles truly work. Yet today, more than 5m of them share our roads.