@DrALJONES @AndiiB
I agree that our language should be plain.

• Nation-states do not reimburse debt. (They restructure it.)
• Nation-states can obtain funding by issuing they own money (or credit).
• Nation-states invest or spend as much as they want by issuing they own money (or credit).

Day 22 cont

“Traditionally, #Queensland candidates, whether federal or state, promise to take the fight to #Canberra. They project themselves as defiantly parochial, unashamedly maroon, with a vested interest in the north. More recently, however, #power has shifted from the #regions to the #urban south-east, which is more likely to welcome new #arrivals from other states than Queensland country towns. Amid all this growth, the lines of #responsibility have blurred between federal, state and even local government. Rather than fighting Canberra, the parties – including the Greens, who thrive on street-level combat – have taken to #fighting each other.

At the last election, the #Greens picked up three seats in Greater #Brisbane, riding the winds of change. The #TealMovement was unsuccessful in its first federal foray into Queensland, in the seat of Groom, although Suzie Holt enjoyed a healthy flow of preferences and is running again.

For now, the closest thing Queensland has to #independents are Bob Katter and Gerard Rennick, but the south-east is becoming used to newcomers.”

#AusPol / #Liberal / #LNP / #Nationals / #planning / #GrowthCorridor / #facilities / #transport / #basics <https://archive.md/7GbkF> / <https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/nowhere-is-growing-like-this-corner-of-queensland-it-s-changing-the-political-game-20250415-p5lrzn.html> (paywall)

“It brings to mind the abuses of power that characterize #authoritarian nations, not the #UnitedStates. No matter one’s party or #politics, every American should reject the notion that the awesome #power of the presidency can be used to pursue individual vendettas. Behavior of this kind is more to be expected from a royal despot than the elected leader of a constitutional republic. This is the path of #autocracy, not #democracy.”

“Across our history, there have been dark chapters where state #power has been #weaponized & #dissent suppressed, including the crackdown during & after WWI, the #RedScare of the 1950s, & President Richard #Nixon’s ‘enemies list.’ These episodes are now seen as shameful deviations from the fundamental American principles of #FreeExpression & impartial #justice. The April 9 presidential memoranda are an appalling rejection of those bedrock democratic values.“
#RevengePolitics #AbuseOfPower #Trump

“#Congress has not delegated any such #power,” the suit says. “The statute the President invokes—the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (‘#IEEPA’) — does not authorize the President to unilaterally issue across-the-board worldwide tariffs.”
The Liberty Justice Center, which is representing the owner-operated companies, said #Trump’s new #tariffs of at least 10% on imports from most countries & higher rates for scores of other nations are devastating small #businesses across the country.

Trump "intends to send those he hates to foreign prisons beyond the reach of U.S. law. He does not care — he will not even seek to discover — if those he sends into these foreign hells are guilty of what he claims. Because this is not about their guilt — it is about his power."

~ Ezra Klein

#Trump #DOGE #tariffs #AbregoGarcia #power #authoritarianism #fascism
/6

https://view.newsletters.cnn.com/messages/17449825320140797757c9a82/raw

And the puffed-up pomposity of Trump and his pretend-macho bully men is, as Myra Adams reminds us today, mirrored by his female disciples, his "MAGA mean girls" like Pam Bondi and Karoline Leavitt, who "have been 'liberating' America from its Constitution every day since Jan. 20."

#Trump #power #authoritarianism #fascism #masculinity #gender #PamBondi #KarolineLeavitt
/5

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/5254962-maga-mean-girls-are-trumps-loyal-foot-soldiers/

"He feels ashamed of his obesity, but instead of addressing it in a disciplined way, he orders his doctors to lie about it. And we have good reason to believe he doesn’t stack up to Arnold Palmer.

This would ideally be a problem for a therapist to address—but for our sins it’s become a problem for the country and the world."

#Trump #power #authoritarianism #fascism #masculinity
/4

"He’s never done manual labor—not for money, not for experience, not to help a friend move furniture from one apartment to another. He has no notable athletic accomplishments. He may be a decent golfer, but not as good as he claims, and he traverses the course in a cart, never on foot. He dodged the draft."

#Trump #power #authoritarianism #fascism #masculinity
/3

"Donald Trump is taken with manly men. He thinks about them a lot. They impress him. He’d deny it, because…well, for the obvious reason. ...

His mind is raining men, hallelujah. But not in a homoerotic way. This is how Trump processes his own soft-handed inadequacies.

~ Brian Beutler

#Trump #power #authoritarianism #fascism #masculinity
/2

https://www.offmessage.net/p/dont-let-soft-donald-trump-redefine