politics

Birchtree

I got into the irony of 2nd Amendment fanatics saying they needed gun for if the government sent masked men into their streets yelling, “papers please”, only to then cheer for those masked men when they did take to the streets.

Things have been quiet around these parts and I apologize for that. Life, holidays, work, and Foofaraw, have taken up a lot of time and the news as of late has just been devastating. We’re invading countries, have a secret police asking people for their papers, shooting unarmed citizens in the face, storming houses without warrants, racially profiling people, deporting people without due process, supporting genocide, letting health insurance rates spike exponentially while sending billions to places like Argentina, and suing our own federal reserve—all while the president and his family make more money in the last 10 years than they made their entire lives—it’s devastating.

To even think about the news, let alone read it, feels like a herculean task—and that’s from someone with a good job, supportive family, and has all the privilege in the world as a straight white cis man. I can’t begin to imagine what it must feel like for people worried they could be kidnapped or harassed at any moment because of the way they look.

I’m rambling at this point, but I feel stuck and sad and I don’t know what else to do. It’s infuriating talking to people who you know are decent people, but still can’t understand the harm this administration is doing.

TheWrap

This might come across as insensitive… but what on earth did Charlie Kirk do in 2025 to deserve Person of the Year? Besides getting shot… If getting assasinated is the requirement, I’d like to nominate Melissa Hortman and John Hoffman, and their spouses, Mark and Yvette.

Letters from an American

The final document began with a preamble explaining that a UDHR was necessary because “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,” and because “disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind.” Because “the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,” the preamble said, “human rights should be protected by the rule of law.”

Richardson goes on to list all the rights that are included under the United Nations human rights and it sure feels like America doesn’t give a fuck about 70% of those rights now.

I enjoyed this bit:

The U.S. government did not recognize Human Rights Day this year.

Instead, Humeyra Pamuk of Reuters reported, administration officials are threatening to place sanctions on the International Criminal Court to guarantee it will not investigate Trump and his top officials.

Who needs human rights when you have bigger bombs, I guess? We are devolving back to a world where might means right, and unfortunately, we are the bad guys this time.

The Economist

Many of the new lawyers installed in senior posts over recent months “don’t care what the right answer is”, bemoans the former senior JAG. “They spend all their time trying to figure out what the administration wants and then reverse engineer how to get to it.”

I called it out a while ago, but at a minimum, Trump is guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, and now I think it’s pretty clear he and Hegseth are guilty of international war crimes as well. Since Trump is such a great “businessman man,” he should be familiar with vicarious liability and his predecessor’s motto: “The buck stops here.”