/leftypol/ - Leftist Politically Incorrect

billions must kiss

Jeffries No Match for 'Historic, Fascistic Moment' After Response to DHS Detaining Nadler Aide
Two weeks after declaring that the Trump administration's arrest of members of Democratic members of Congress would be a "red line," the top-ranking Democrat in the U.S. House this week was signaling no concrete plan to take action over the Justice Department charging a congresswoman and federal agents detaining a Capitol Hill aide.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/house-democrats-and-jeffries

Interior to rescind Biden order on Alaska reserve drilling curbs
Department officials said in a statement that the Biden administration's imposition of restrictions "exceeds the agency's statutory authority" under a 1976 law while imposing "unnecessary barriers to responsible energy development." Interior under Biden unveiled final plans last year to protect more than 13 million acres in the 23-million-acre reserve, with an outright ban on new oil and gas leases on 10.6 million acres. Large hydrocarbon deposits underlie sensitive wildlife habitat in the Alaska expanse.
https://www.axios.com/2025/06/02/alaska-reserve-drilling-curbs-rescinded

Trump administration seeks pause of second tariff case after loss
The Trump administration on Monday asked a U.S. appeals court to pause a second court ruling that found the president had exceeded his authority by imposing sweeping tariffs on imports, saying the decision jeopardizes trade negotiations with other nations. Trump's tariffs were first declared illegal by the Manhattan-based U.S. Court of International Trade on May 28. A federal court in Washington, D.C. followed with a second ruling the next day, which also found that the tariffs exceeded the president's authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a law intended to address "unusual and extraordinary" threats during national emergencies.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-administration-seeks-pause-second-tariff-case-after-loss-2025-06-02/

Budget head Vought floats impoundment to sidestep Congress on DOGE cuts
Vought argued spending less than was appropriated by Congress was "totally appropriate" for 200 years but that reforms in the 1970s led to "massive waste, fraud and abuse." He argued that the Impoundment Control Act also allows for pocket rescissions, a practice of proposing rescissions near the end of the fiscal year to essentially run out the clock, which Vought has long championed. "It's a provision that has been rarely used, but it's there," he said. "And we intend to use all of these tools. We want Congress to pass it where it's necessary; we also have executive tools."
https://www.axios.com/2025/06/01/vought-impoundment-doge-cuts-rescissions-congress

Texas police used nationwide license plate reader network to track woman who had self-managed abortion
On May 9, an officer with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office used a tool called Flock to access a nationwide network of some 83,000 license plate readers as part of its search. Abortion is almost entirely illegal in Texas, but the search included cameras in states where abortion is legal, like Washington and Illinois, according to data obtained by tech news website 404 Media. The sheriff’s office told the outlet it initiated the search because the woman’s family was “worried that she was going to bleed to death, and we were trying to find her to get her to a hospital.”
https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/crime/texas-abortion-license-plate-camera-b2760411.html

Cuomo campaign attorney goes after union that criticized him
Additional assertions in the union’s flier — including Cuomo’s push for a less generous pension tier, cost-saving labor contracts and the taxpayer money spent to defend him against sexual harassment allegations — were omitted from the letter. Connor threatened to contact elections officials and state Attorney General Letitia James — a Cuomo foe and Adams backer — “for your deceptive and misleading claims which may interfere with legitimate voters seeking to exercise their franchise free of this sort of misinformation.” Union President Gloria Middleton declined to comment “under the advice of my attorney.” Adams’ campaign also declined to comment.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/02/cuomo-campaign-attorney-union-criticism-00379892
https://archive.ph/yXTFu

Cold facts, the average American can't cover a $300 emergency expense. They're broke, way poorer than we're giving them credit for. We're talking people scraping by, living paycheck to paycheck, while the top 10%–those pulling in over a million a year, living in big mansions, renting out their second mansion to some other rich fuck just a rung below them on the totem pole–fuck up the whole ratio. Take them out, and don't even get me started on the billionaires, who are absolutely screwing the curve. The median income? Probably around $30,000 a year, maybe $35,000. Don't quote me on the exact number, but the point stands: things are way worse for the average American than we're letting on.

Look at places like Florida, Louisiana, or the Pacific Northwest, where wildfires are ravaging everything. We saw this with the Palisades fire–people, regular folks, wage laborers, uber drivers, teachers, gig workers, lost their homes. They were renting, not owning, so when the flames took everything, they had nothing to go back to. The developers? They don't give a fuck. They rebuild, and now the rent's significantly higher–proven fact. Those people who lost everything? They're just left to what, die effectively? They can't afford the new prices, can't buy property, can't even find a new place to rent. They're screwed, and we're gonna see this accelerate. Accelerate.

Take Florida. A lot of 70+ year old retirees, snowbirds flocking for the sun. But when summer hits 115 degrees and hurricanes tear through like clockwork, it's becoming less habitable. Logical conclusion: fewer snowbirds. They are the people who can afford to leave anyway. Add in COVID, still running rampant, and the fact that Boomers, the main retiree crowd, are aging out and dying off. Then there's the wealth disparity–many don't have the cash to keep up the snowbird lifestyle. Now, let's say 25% of people have the money to up and leave, sell their house, buy a new one without being out on their ass. That's generous, probably way too high. That leaves 75% of people stuck, no way to relocate, no cash to start over, in a collapsed space. And what's the government's position? Nothing. We've privatized everything–healthcare, housing, you name it. All they offer is indefinite detainment, militarized police, and hyper surveillance. That's it.

Those places–Florida, Louisiana, the Northwest, Arizona–are gonna become hotbeds for resistance. People aren't gonna just accept being left to die. Some might try to walk, literally caravan out of these states, doing anything to escape. But I don't think that's what's gonna happen. People are gonna fight, stay for what they live for. They're not gonna let the entire state of fucking Florida or the city of New Orleans get lost to climate change because it's "too expensive" otherwise. That's not human nature. People don't roll over when their homes, their lives, are on the line.

But the government? They're not doing shit. What they're doing in Gaza is a test run. A test run for how much death and slaughter they can get away with in the age of the internet, livestreamed by the people they're killing. And it seems like they can. As bleak as that is, they're pulling it off–two million people being killed right now.. Now imagine 2040 (15 years away, ~3 election cycles), a massive caravan of migrants from Nicaragua, fleeing because climate change makes it impossible to live there three months out of the year. You can't go outside or you'll die. That's a different material condition than Gaza, but the playbook's the same. The state's ready to treat them as expendable, just like they're practicing now.

The rich? The capitalist? They're already out. They're in gated communities, high-rises with hyper-secure 1990s South Africa vibes, they are building bunkers my man, doing everything to stay separated from the rest of us. We're left in a Soylent Green future–everything run-down, no state except the one that exists to terrorize you, to make sure you don't fuck with the rich sacrificing the entire planet to maintain their lifestyles. That's where we're headed, and it's not some doomsday shit for 2200. This is your reality, your kids' reality. If you're a Zoomer, you'll be like 42 living in this hellscape, assuming we don't do anything. Maybe that's why we are so neurotic about youth?



The tech companies have been known about this shit too. Social media, dating apps, the whole modern internet–it's not just about money. It's like an MK Ultra for the masses, sowing anti-humanity, anti-empathy rhetoric, slop and solipsism. Remember that day instagram randomly showed everyone gore videos? They called it a "bug." Bullshit. That was intentional, 100%. Big facts. If it wasn't, hell, it still proves the point: these platforms run on rage, division, turning people into products. Dating apps? They're not just for finding 'connections'. They are intentionally designed to create a hierarchy where the user becomes the only "real" person, and everyone else is a swipe, a product. What are products in capitalism? Disposable. That's why it's so easy to scroll past a family getting blown up on tiktok and feel nothing. It's not just economics; it's about building a hierarchial system where you're conditioned to see others as less than human, prepping you for a world where climate-driven mass death is just background noise.

Prisons, like Alcatraz, would fed inmates better-than-average meals—not out of kindness, but because it made them less likely to revolt. Economically, they could feed them gruel, but then they'd be more likely to cause trouble. This is how economics and heirarchy intertwine. It's the same principle in Attica country. America's a giant prison, testing control mechanisms. Feed people just enough comfort–propaganda and the spectacle–to keep them docile while the planet burns and the rich build their bunkers. But it's not just about creating enough comfort, the heirarchy must be internalized by the masses on an individual level. You're taught to value yourself above others but also to listen to the teacher no matter what, you're taught to see the poor as lesser but also that "at least you aren't suffering like they are". It's a feedback loop, each part reinforcing the others, designed to keep the system running and the masses compliant. But eventually, the ouroboros eats itself.

Keeping it a buck though, the people, the masses don't want this. They don't want to die, don't want to watch murder, don't want to scroll through horror videos by default. That's not who we are. They spend billions every year–on media, culture, propaganda, the whole spectacle–to override that core humanity. We're the country of Bernays, the propaganda people. They tell stories to make you okay with mass death. Gaza shows the limit—people won't the swallow the dehumanizing nihilism forever. They're screaming for a vanguard organization. That's why you need a vanguard organization. That’s why you need some sort of organ, media apparatus–something that can go to the masses, put out the word, organize, prepare, do good works and then come back and synthesize the issues of the masses into a party line. It takes a lot of time to get there. We’re not there yet. It takes a lot of time to get to that point. It’s not here yet—it takes time—but it's coming. Where climate's worst–west coast wildfires, the south's sea rise–those are the friction points. That's where the spark catches, where the collapse of American imperialism and capitalism's contradictions hit hardest.

Those contradictions are piling up. They're accelerating. The system's gonna crack, and when it does, humanity's unstoppable. Hierarchy can’t hold when 75, 85% are left to die. Once we break free from this dark god of capital, we can reverse climate change, adapt, steward the planet. We're not doomed. We're powerful, a force of good, capable of incredible things. The material conditions are pushing us there, and people aren't gonna accept being left to die. They'll fight, and they'll win.

Campus militarization intensifies, undermining academic freedom
In 2024, Filipino students confronted government’s efforts deemed as threats to their freedom of expression and academic freedom. Youth groups have voiced concerns over the government’s push to reinstate mandatory ROTC for all students and the relentless red-tagging of activists. Despite its controversial history, mandatory ROTC is now a priority of the Marcos administration. Senate Bill No. 2034, also known as the ROTC Act, is currently on its second reading in the Senate after the House of Representatives passed its version. If approved, the bill will require all students enrolled in at least two-year undergraduate programs in higher education institutions (HEIs) and technical-vocational institutions (TVIs) to complete a four-semester ROTC program. Failure to comply will disqualify students from graduating, while schools that do not implement the program will face sanctions from the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). “There are already so many issues that need attention. If we add mandatory ROTC to this, the more pressing problems that require solutions will just be overshadowed. And to the policymakers pushing for mandatory ROTC in the country—Let us not impose unnecessary laws. Perhaps if you immerse yourselves with the masses, if you experience the daily struggles of students, you will see and understand what is truly needed,” said Queenie Quintero, student regent of Bulacan State University (BulSU). The proposed ROTC curriculum, to be crafted by the Department of National Defense (DND), CHED, and TESDA, purportedly aims to instill discipline, patriotism, and civic responsibility.
https://www.bulatlat.com/2024/12/30/campus-militarization-intensifies-undermining-academic-freedom/

French Leaders Are Using Trump’s Trade War to Push Austerity
Right from his inauguration, Donald Trump unleashed slash-and-burn austerity on the federal government — with even deeper cuts planned for coming months. As part of a breakneck eighteen-month agenda to maximize “governmental efficiency and productivity,” Trump has advanced a wide-ranging attack on the way the US government has hitherto functioned, including internationally. In early April, Trump carried through on another campaign promise to upend global commerce by imposing massive tariffs on nearly every other country. Stock markets plunged, and business confidence evaporated. For a moment, it seemed like the postwar system of global commerce hung in the balance. Trump’s smash-and-grab announcements sent governments around the world scrambling, faced with rising fears of Washington provoking a global recession. In response to the initial “Liberation Day” tariff announcements, French premier François Bayrou told Le Parisien that Trump’s moves could trigger a global catastrophe. He warned that large numbers of jobs would be threatened, all of society would suffer, and that the human costs would be “considerable.” But Bayrou also made sure that the crisis didn’t go to waste. He had already been facing a fierce upcoming budget battle in a bitterly divided National Assembly and quickly used the confrontation to get ahead of the debate. Bayrou warned that looming instability would also mean reduced investment in French industry. “Trump’s policy could cost us 0.5 percent of GDP,” he told the newspaper. France’s government has already revised down its GDP growth expectations for 2026, from 1.4 percent in October to 1.2 percent now.
https://jacobin.com/2025/06/france-bayrou-trump-trade-austerity

V. I. Lenin: Trade-Union Neutrality 1908
How erroneous Comrade Plekhanov’s arguments on this subject are is shown in a most striking manner by his article in Sovremenny Mir,[9] No. 12, 1907. On page 55 Plekhanov quotes a statement by Lunacharsky that trade-union neutrality is supported by the German revisionists. Plekhanov answers this statement as follows: “The revisionists say that the unions must be neutral, but understand by this that the unions must be used to fight orthodox Marxism.” And Plekhanov concludes: “The elimination of trade-union neutrality will not help matters at all. Even if we make the unions closely and formally dependent on the Party, and revisionist ‘ideology’ triumphs in the Party, the elimination of trade-union neutrality will merely be a fresh victory for ‘the critics of Marx’." This argument is a typical example of Plekhanov’s usual method of dodging the issue and suppressing the essence of the dispute. If revisionist ideology really does triumph in the Party, then it will not be.a socialist part.y of the working class. It is not at all a question of how the party takes shape, and what struggle and what splits occur in the process. It is a question of the fact that a socialist party and trade unions exist in every capitalist country, and it is our job to define the basic relations between them. The class interests of the bourgeoisie inevitably give rise to a striving to confine the unions to petty and narrow activity within the framework of the existing social order, to keep them away from any contact with socialism; and the neutrality theory is the ideological cover for these strivings of the bourgeoisie. In one way or another, the revisionists within the S.D. parties will always clear a way for themselves in capitalist society. Of course, at the outset of the workers’ political and trade-union movements in Europe it was possible to uphold trade-union neutrality as a means of widening the original field of proletarian struggle during the period when it was comparatively undeveloped and when the bourgeoisie exerted no systematic influence on the unions. At the present time it is quite indefensible, from the point of view of international Social-Democracy, to uphold trade-union neutrality. One can only smile when reading Plekhanov’s assurances that “even today, Marx would be in favour of trade-union neutrality in Germany”, especially when that. kind of argument is based on a one-sided interpretation of a single “quotation” from Marx, while ignoring the sum and substance of Marx’s statements and the whole spirit of his teachings.
https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1908/feb/19b.htm

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