There are people who make knowing the intricate details of what happens when X happens their whole career. I feel like the Trump admin is knocking them off one by one. Best wishes to the Hormuz guys.

There's a part of me that thinks this may actually be true post-Maduro.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 5mo ago

Trump: "If we didn't hit within 2 weeks, they would've had a nuclear weapon. When crazy people have nuclear weapons bad things happen."

This take didn't age well. Maybe he finally realized he wasn't accomplishing anything and now we get the exact opposite.

@geopolresearch.bsky.social · 10mo ago

The Trump admin solution to all intractable problems is to freeze them in place in a way that ensures it's not over. But it's more convenient to US foreign policy.

This is an extraordinary moment and I'm not questioning the wisdom of doing this. But it's also true that the fundamental makeup of the parties is in flux and - like we saw with the Texas gerrymandering - it's hard to know how this shakes out as coalitions shift.

jamelle@jamellebouie.net · 6mo ago

🫡

Our Digital Hate and Harms Team has just released a new microsite to document and share information about symbols used by hate groups from around the world. monitoring-glossary.bellingcat.com

Bellingcat Monitoring Glossary

Bellingcat Monitoring Glossary

monitoring-glossary.bellingcat.com

Pritzker: The Insurrection Act is designed for circumstances where your rights can’t be protected by local authorities This is exactly the opposite. Your civil rights are being infringed upon by CBP and ICE, and then they want to call in troops claiming that they’re protecting CBP and ICE.

They're using the confinement box, one of the most horrific methods of CIA torture in the post-9/11 black sites, against migrants now. This is the direct result of the lack of consequences for the architects of the torture program. Either there will be criminal penalties for this or it will expand.

Torture Techniques from CIA Black Sites Were Used at Alligator Alcatraz

Amnesty International, interviewing migrant detainees, identifies use of the confinement box. There can be no denying it is a torture prison

forever-wars.com

"senior business strategist at Throughline Inc." What the actual fuck are we even doing politico?

B. A. Friedman@bafriedman.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Thomas P. M. Barnett has always been a hack but this is hacky even for him. And I say this as someone more sympathetic to efforts to combat China’s influence region and the need for a military response to cartels than most.

The Trump admin solution to all intractable problems is to freeze them in place in a way that ensures it's not over. But it's more convenient to US foreign policy.

Roland Smith@rolandmcs.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Only an American with no appreciation of Europe or its history could come up with this.

They tapped a jr. rep and former state treasurer to write a piece claiming this is something new and different. nationalinterest.org/feature/prio...

“Prioritized Deterrence”: A Roadmap for US Foreign Policy

President Trump’s recent strike on Iran provides a model for America’s future military engagement around the world—balancing strategic interests with industrial capacity and political will.

nationalinterest.org

From Bloomberg The Department of Housing and Urban Development is planning changes to public housing rules that would evict families with at least one undocumented member and rescinding access to other housing assistance. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Trump Takes Second Swing at Cutting Housing Assistance for Immigrants

A pending HUD rule change targeting aid for families with undocumented members revisits an idea that housing advocates fought off in Trump’s first term.

bloomberg.com

congratulations once again to the Trump-backing China hawks for their very well thought out decision

Adam@adam35.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Our bureau CI SA already has a mountain of work on his plate. How is this going to help? New MSS related espionage cases are opened in the HUNDREDS every week. Not to mention the Russians, DPRK, etc.

$200,000,000 million ballroom divided by a $100,000 cost to employ annually = 2,000 years worth of federal employment. I'd take finding 500 fed salaries over a ballroom (that will definitely cost more as building materials are tariffed).

If even one MTF trans kid wins a competition the entire cultural fabric of the country is fucked according to the same people who elected DJT. Why do intelligent people not see that it's not about taking sides in the debate of the day? It's entirely about who sets the field of play.

Andy Campbell@andybcampbell.bsky.social · last yr.

Gut-wrenching investigation here in which @mattshuham.bsky.social and @jessicaschulberg.bsky.social tell the human stories behind Trump's aggressive deportation campaign — hundreds of detentions without charge, trial or sentencing www.huffpost.com/entry/cecot-...

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/09/o...

During the Great Leap Forward, people were asked to being metal from their kitchens to turn into desperately needed steel. It didn't work.

The New York Times@nytimes.com · last yr.

President Trump wants to revive factories, using tariffs as a tool. Companies that want to re-shore manufacturing are grappling with how to do it.

"Staff of the Federal Emergency Management Agency were left baffled on Monday after the head of the U.S. disaster agency said he had not been aware the country has a hurricane season, according to four sources familiar with the situation." www.reuters.com/world/us/fem...

I find myself thinking about Kaiser Wilhelm a lot recently. I can't be the first to make the comparison.

It's a scramble for partners. The US finally realized it was losing the race it kicked off.

Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · last yr.

(Reuters) - China is willing to work with Mexico to resist and oppose "unilateral acts" and defend free trade rules, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Mexican counterpart Juan Ramon de la Fuente in Beijing on Wednesday.

Again every time they make a change to tariffs I am required to remind you THEY COULD EXEMPT BANANAS AT ANY TIME IT WOULD TAKE FIVE SECONDS AND THEY WON’T DO IT

FinTwitter@fintwitter.bsky.social · last yr.

TRUMP TO EXEMPT CARMAKERS FROM SOME US TARIFFS - FT

Another day, another violation of international law by the US? The US is party to the ILO Convention 182 on Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999.

Carol F@cfpdx.bsky.social · last yr.

Florida isn’t an aberration. The Economic Policy Institute think-tank says 31 US states introduced bills to weaken child labour protections between 2021 and 2024. #childlabor www.ft.com/content/e341...

This is terrible for the US and its major trading partners. But the biggest impact on quality of life will mostly be in countries that are a tiny part of the US trade deficit —like Guyana, Cambodia, Nicaragua, Honduras, Lesotho.

Charles Kenny@charlesjkenny.bsky.social · last yr.

Very rough and ready estimate of the most affected countries by the new tariffs, apologies for errors. Sources in thread. Cambodia, Vietnam, Nicaragua Guyana all *highly* dependent on exports to US (= to 25%+ GNI), facing tariffs 18-38%.

LOL -- White House econ adviser Kevin Hassett admits on Fox News Sunday that on tariffs "I can't give you any forward-looking guidance on what's gonna happen this week. The president has got a heck of a lot of analysis before him, and he's gonna make the right choice I'm sure."

And that's why calling it a trade war is ridiculous. It's not a war, it's entrenchment.

Simon Lester@simonlester.com · last yr.

People are overthinking this. Trump believes tariffs will make the US rich by protecting domestic industry from competition, raising revenue, and providing negotiating leverage. He's wrong about them making the US rich, but that's what he believes. It's not more complicated than that.

BTW in the historically-chaotic car market of the last five years prices have only risen by…21%. For many makes & models the Trump tariffs are going to cause a larger price spike than what they saw throughout the entire pandemic supply-chain shortage era.

And another one gone, and another one gone Another one bites the dust (yeah)

Finbarr Bermingham@fbermingham.bsky.social · last yr.

As they said they would last week, the commission has now tightened the safeguard on steel imports, as it looks to stop Chinese shipments being rerouted from the US to Europe due to Trump's tariffs eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-conten...

I think people often get confused by this and I think at least one source of that confusion is the power that CAN come from scarce commodities exports. China is interestingly trying to wield its intermediates in a similar way right now but their location isn't immutable.

Scott Lincicome@scottlincicome.bsky.social · last yr.

"It was the country with the trade deficit that won the war, not the country with the surplus"

Really the latest signal that countries shouldn't expect to negotiate back to no tariffs. A lot of what the trump admin is asking for is politically untenable and I think that's probably a feature, not a bug.

Soumaya Keynes@soumayakeynes.ft.com · last yr.

"While Trump has complained of foreign countries’ unfair treatment of the US, his officials are more focused on using tariffs to raise revenues for planned tax cuts rather than as a bargaining chip with foreign capitals, say people familiar with the discussions." Gift link: on.ft.com/4kV02ad

This is the key point. Remember Rubio's assertion that trade policy is foreign policy? Sounds like a great way to have a 25% tier if they already have a 15% tier with Section 122.

Simon Lester@simonlester.com · last yr.

A possibly important point about the "secondary tariffs" on purchases of Venezuelan oil is the discretion involved: "The Secretary of State ... is hereby authorized to determine in his discretion whether the tariff of 25 percent will be imposed on goods from any country that imports Venezuelan oil"