/leftypol/ - Leftist Politically Incorrect

US claims student’s activism could ‘undermine’ Middle East peace
Rubio’s memo justifying the arrest cites the same authority used to detain Mahdawi’s fellow Columbia protester and green-card holder Mahmoud Khalil. In both cases, Rubio cited a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) that he said allows him to deport any person who is not a citizen or national of the US.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/15/mohsen-mahdawi-columbia-detained

Texas judge throws out rule that would have capped credit card late fees
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman in Fort Worth came a day after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and a collection of major industry groups that had filed a lawsuit last year to stop the rule announced they had come to an agreement to throw out the rule. The groups that sued included the American Bankers Association, the Consumer Bankers Association, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
https://apnews.com/article/consumer-financial-protection-bureau-lawsuit-fees-6a2e6b913aec0bdfc0d13c7ad329c5c8

Trump plans order to cut funding for NPR and PBS
The memo, which the administration plans to send to Congress when it reconvenes from recess on April 28, will open a 45-day window in which the House and Senate can either approve the rescission or allow the money to be restored.
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/15/nx-s1-5352827/npr-pbs-public-media-trump-rescission-funding

Shapiro arson suspect’s family had sought help for days from authorities before attack
In the days before Cody Balmer allegedly set fire to the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion, his family repeatedly called police and mental health agencies for help as his condition dramatically worsened, according to interviews with relatives and phone records shared with CNN.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/15/politics/shapiro-arson-suspect-sought-help-authorities-invs/index.html
https://archive.ph/U3Wbr

LA county facing financial turmoil after wildfires and $4bn abuse settlement
The region faces roughly $2bn in expenses related to January’s fires, which killed 30 people and destroyed nearly 17,000 structures. Earlier this month the county announced it had a $4bn agreement to settle thousands of claims of sexual abuse in juvenile facilities dating back 1959 – the largest such settlement in US history.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/15/budget-los-angeles-california-county

Thanks News Anon

925 - Banshee, PA Chamber of Commerce feat. Kath Kreuger (4/14/25) (Chapo Trap House)
Before addressing the news of the day, Will & Kath catch up with Felix on their re-watch of beloved series BANSHEE, which segues nicely into discussion of the baffling firebombing of the Pennsylvania governor's mansion. We then move on to the increasingly horrific and blatantly illegal renditions of American residents into foreign prisons, and the further construction of Fortress America. We also look at potential democratic responses, from Cory Booker’s filibuster, to Kamala slowly stepping back into the spotlight, and finally Bernie & AOC’s recent rally in LA.
https://soundcloud.com/chapo-trap-house/925-banshee-pa-chamber-of-commerce-feat-kath-kreuger-41425

Self-Defense in the Civil Rights Movement: the Lessons of Birmingham, 1963
Hope is the fuel upon which working-class movements for social change draw their core strength. But hope divorced from solid organizing leads no-where. So, if we are to continue to propel our class forward it is vital that we learn the full lessons of how our sweetest victories are seized from the hands of our oppressors. Birmingham, 1963, represents one such success story, an inspiring tale that pitched Martin Luther King’s determined civil rights activists against the steel town’s white supremacists who, as folk singer Phil Ochs tells it, literally fed their dogs on civil rights. A pivotal struggle against the evils of segregation that achieved its crowning glory shortly after thousands of children peacefully stood-up to the seething racist violence of Bull Connor. But while Connor became world-famous for allowing his police dogs to tear flesh off the bodies of peaceful protestors, what is often overlooked in sanitized narratives of this story of good versus evil is the full context in which King’s nonviolent victory was obtained. Digging beneath this peaceful patina is however critical if we are to comprehend the important role that violent self-defense fulfilled within Birmingham’s black community in opposing the horrors of segregation.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/12/10/self-defense-in-the-civil-rights-movement-the-lessons-of-birmingham-1963/

Biopolitics: Between Terri Schiavo and Guantanamo - Slavoj Žižek December 2005
What is effectively going on here? In a debate about the fate of Guantanamo prisoners on NBC about a year ago, one of the weird arguments for the ethico-legal acceptability of their status was that "they are those who were missed by the bombs": since they were the target of the US bombing and accidentally survived it, and since this bombing was part of a legitimate military operation, one cannot condemn their fate when they were taken prisoners after the combat - whatever their situation, it is better, less severe, than being dead… This reasoning tells more than it intends to say: it puts the prisoner almost literally into the position of living dead, those who are in a way already dead (their right to live forfeited by being legitimate targets of murderous bombings), so that they are now cases of what Giorgio Agamben calls homo sacer, the one who can be killed with impunity since, in the eyes of the law, his life no longer counts.
https://libcom.org/article/biopolitics-between-terri-schiavo-and-guantanamo-slavoj-zizek

Thank You News Anon

https://erikhoudini.com/news

Since you're going to be doing this regularly, I have taken the last few days of posts, and built a page for them going forward, it's pretty simple at the moment
also links back here