US politics

US politics

On Tuesday, the Trump Administration followed through on a threat of retaliation targeting foreigners who are involved in content moderation. The State Department announced sanctions barring US access for former EU commissioner Thierry Breton, as well as four researchers, while issuing an intentionally chilling threat to others, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio claiming, "The State Department stands ready and willing to expand today's list if other foreign actors do not reverse course."

PG&E and Alameda County Fire officials say more investigation is needed to determine if residents should have been told to leave. The fact that a house blew up and people were injured means they absolutely should have been told. These spokespeople mean "did we follow our flawed process that said no need to notify despite the risk, or did we not follow our good enough process that should have notified people?" As such, they completely lose track of their real responsibility, our safety.

He bent the Republican-controlled Congress to his will and dismantled much of the federal bureaucracy. He brought powerful institutions, including prestigious universities and law firms, to heel, demanding that his ring be kissed and his wallet fattened. He upended the nation's economic and diplomatic relations with the world. He hijacked Americans' attention-he was everywhere!-while openly musing about tearing up the Constitution and serving a third term.

Toward the end of, X began listing account locations in the "About this account" section of people's (or bots') profiles. X also can list the platform through which users access the social media site, such as the web app or a region-specific app store. With these new transparency features, X exposed that major MAGA influencers are likely operating from Eastern Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia.

The liberal governor said the Trump Administration was waging war against his state and the Somalis who live there because it is racist. This is what happens when they target communities for their own benefit; this is what happens when they scapegoat, and this is what happens when they no longer hide the idea of white supremacy, Walz said. He continued, When you hear the vice president of the United States talk about Now white people won't have to apologize for being white.' That's never once happened in my whole damn life.

In an executive order, Donald Trump declared "Antifa" a terrorist organization. As it isn't an organization, there aren't leaders to target, so zealous conservatives took aim at Mark Bray, a Rutgers professor who wrote a book about fighting fascism eight years ago. The clumsy attempts to get him fired didn't bother him-but the doxxing and death threats were enough to convince him he needed to leave America.

As we head into our mini-hibernation, here are three videos from today and last week from Streetsblogs California and Los Angeles. The embeds below are from TikTok, but if you're not a fan, here's all the links to find Streetsblog videos: And if you can't get enough Streetsblog videos, Streetsblog NYC has a TikTok Channel and Streetfilms is archived on YouTube.

At the close of 2024, I wrote that Elon Musk's support of Donald Trump had made him the world's most powerful unelected man. In 2025, his reign turned out to be short-lived. He rose fast and haphazardly, like a whizzing firework, only to explode spectacularly in June when he claimed in a post on X that the president of the United States was named in the government's files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Republicans in the House of Representatives can't get much done - except when it comes to attacking the trans community. Then they can still manage to pull out all the stops. Just last week, Republicans, joined by a handful of Democrats, passed a bill to ban Medicaid from funding any gender-affirming care for minors. That was on top of another bill that they passed to criminalize gender-affirming care for trans youth.

Over the past year you've read writers like Elie Mystal, Kaveh Akbar, John Nichols, Joan Walsh, Bryce Covert, Dave Zirin, Jeet Heer, Michael T. Klare, Katha Pollitt, Amy Littlefield, Gregg Gonsalves, and Sasha Abramsky take on the Trump family's corruption, set the record straight about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s catastrophic Make America Healthy Again movement, survey the fallout and human cost of the DOGE wrecking ball, anticipate the Supreme Court's dangerous antidemocratic rulings, and amplify successful tactics of resistance on the streets and in Congress.

I want to thank President Trump, he is fulfilling his commitment, him and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth are sending the National Guard back into Louisiana, into New Orleans, he said. They will be there for New Year's Eve, and they will be there for a deployment through February, which we desperately need. Look, We know how to make cities safe, and the National Guard complements cities that are having high crime problems.