politics

Democratic People's Republic of North America

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/29467404

By Doyinsola Oladipo, Karen Freifeld and Rich McKay
May 1, 2025 8:01 PM EDT

Summary Protests target immigration policies, wealthy decision-makers

Organizers accuse #Trump of prioritizing profits for billionaires

US Rep Ocasio-Cortez: Republicans 'going after #Medicaid next'

Abrego Garcia's wife says her husband was 'disappeared'

Former US Justice official calls for 'fealty to constitution'

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/29466246

Brett Wilkins May 01, 2025

" Hundreds of thousands of #workers rallied from coast to coast Thursday to mark International Workers' Day with spirited demonstrations supporting labor rights and protesting President Donald #Trump's "billionaire agenda" and attacks on the rule of law, #unions, #immigrants, #Palestine defenders, transgender people, and others.

Rallies took place in hundreds of cities and towns across the United States in what the #MayDayStrong coalition, which led the day of action along with the 50501 movement and others, called "a demand for a country that invests in working families—not billionaire profits." "

Consider he can't handle to NOT voting for another fascist cabinet member, yeah, screw this ineffective asshole.

When deportees fear for their lives so much they signal distress with a giant SOS sign, that's the sign of a robust democracy.

I guess they'll be allowed out in the courtyard one by one from now on...

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/29461578

May 1, 2025 5:00 AM ET By Chris Arnold and Quil Lawrence

"The U.S. #DepartmentOfVeteransAffairs, as of Thursday, has ended a new #mortgage-rescue program that so far has helped about 20,000 veterans avoid #foreclosure and keep their homes.

The move leaves millions of military #veterans with far worse options than most other American homeowners if they run into trouble paying their home loans. And it comes at a time when nearly 90,000 #VA loans are seriously past due, with 33,000 of those already in the foreclosure process, according to the data and analytics firm ICE."

I think I'd have better luck winning the Powerball than what he wants Democrats to be.

Summary

Elon Musk’s DOGE has hired 21-year-old undergraduate Christopher Sweet to help revise Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulations using AI, despite his lack of government experience.

Internal emails describe Sweet’s role as an “AI computer programming quant analyst” tasked with identifying housing rules to relax or eliminate.

Critics say DOGE hires inexperienced tech workers to dismantle agencies under the guise of reform, aligning with Trump’s Project 2025 agenda.

Musk admitted DOGE has made frequent errors and failed to cut promised spending, with federal expenditures already up $220 billion compared to early 2024.

The White House has launched a new website to promote President Trump’s agenda, a page that looks similar to the popular Drudge Report that has served as a must-read for conservative media members and political operatives for years.

House Republicans have voted down an effort to block immigration enforcers from using federal resources to detain or deport U.S. citizens.

During a House Judiciary Committee meeting on Wednesday, Democrats tabled amendments to a sweeping budget bill that President Donald Trump has dubbed "one big, beautiful bill."

One amendment introduced by Representative Pramila Jayapal, the Democrat from Washington state, sought to make clear Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) cannot detain or deport U.S. citizens under any circumstances. GOP lawmakers killed that amendment.

You can find one near you on mobilize.us

National security adviser Mike Waltz and his deputy, Alex Wong, will be leaving their posts in the Trump White House, according to multiple sources familiar with their departure.

In March, Waltz came under scrutiny after he put together a Signal chat and mistakenly included The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, disclosing discussions with top national security officials about plans for a military strike on Houthi targets in Yemen.

Goldberg published his account, and he initially omitted operational details, but after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe denied any classified information had been shared on the chat, Goldberg published that information, too, which included the timing of the strikes and the weapons packages used.

Anticircumvention laws are the reason no one can sell you a “jailbreaking” tool so your printer is able to recognise and use cheaper, generic ink cartridges. It’s why farmers couldn’t repair their own John Deere tractors until recently and why people who use powered wheelchairs can’t fix their vehicles, even down to minor adjustments like customising the steering handling.

These laws were made in the US but they are among America’s most successful exports. The US trade representative has lobbied — overtly in treaty negotiations; covertly as foreign legislatures debated their IP laws — for America’s trading partners to enact their own versions.

The quid pro quo: countries that passed such laws got tariff-free access to American markets.

With the tariffs being imposed at Trump's whim, it's worthwhile for the rest of the world to revisit their laws which limit peoples' ability to control the software on devices they own.

This post uses a gift link which may have a view count limit. If it runs out, there's an archived copy of the article

A federal judge in Vermont ordered the release Wednesday of Mohsen Mahdawi, the Columbia University student who was arrested two weeks ago by ICE agents following his citizenship interview, while his case proceeds.

"The two weeks of detention so far demonstrate great harm to a person who has been charged with no crime," U.S. District Judge Geoffrey Crawford said at a hearing Wednesday. "Mr. Mahdawi, I will order you released."

"Judge Crawford, who ruled to release me against all of the heinous accusations, horrible attacks, chills of speech, First Amendment violations -- he had made a very brave decision to let me out," Mahdawi said. "And this is what justice is. And for anybody who's doubting justice, this is a light of hope, a hope and faith in the justice system in America."

"To President Trump and his cabinet: I am not afraid of you," Mahdawi said.

Ooh I know who's getting ICEd tomorrow!