Do you feel like the winds of change are blowing today too?
POSTED BY: 6ixStringJack
UPDATED: Sunday, September 6, 2026 16:05
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Quote:Trump’s DOJ refused to rule out nuclear weapons from the kinds of arms it claims the average citizen may be entitled to possess.
Originally posted by second:
The Worst and the Dumbest
By Tess M. Fardon and Shira Lauren Feldman | March 27, 2026 1:48 PM
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2026/03/trump-doj-second-amendment
-nuclear-weapons.html
Of the sheer number of absurdist stories you may have missed in the news recently, one is that in public court filings slamming common-sense laws to prevent gun violence, President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice refused to rule out nuclear weapons from the kinds of arms it claims the average citizen may be entitled to possess under the Second Amendment. https://www.justice.gov/crt/media/1425776/dl?inline
How did we get here, where the top law enforcement lawyers in the country refuse to draw any line at weapons that can be used in lawful self-defense? And why is self-defense an important consideration in showing how laws to prevent gun violence align with the Second Amendment?
In the past year, Trump’s DOJ has taken an extreme pro-gun-rights view of the Second Amendment, with its lawyers making clear their view that the public has a constitutional right to access an extraordinarily broad range of weapons for self-defense. Trump’s DOJ has taken a remarkable stance in recent court filings—including in attacking state assault weapon bans—that any arm that is simply in “common use” by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes cannot be regulated, regardless of how dangerous that arm is, or how unsuited to lawful self-defense.
Now, to be clear, DOJ lawyers do not argue that nuclear weapons are currently protected by the Second Amendment. But that is based on the view that nukes could not become popular enough to be protected, not because of the unmistakable threat to public safety that civilian access to nuclear warheads would create. Under this dangerous logic, if nuclear weapons become more common, all bets are off: Civilians might then be constitutionally entitled to acquire and possess them. And though the Trump DOJ’s discussion of nuclear weapons may seem farfetched, the same logic would apply to a grenade launcher or bazooka.
DOJ’s position that any weapon, no matter the mass destruction it could cause, might be fair game for civilians if it happens to become popular defies common sense. But this is a direct result of a radical shift in the Supreme Court’s Second Amendment jurisprudence within the past two decades.
For two centuries, courts generally understood the Second Amendment to provide a collective right to keep and bear arms—that is, a right shared by officially organized militias, rather than provided to any one individual. This prevailing interpretation was upended in 2008 when the Supreme Court decided District of Columbia v. Heller, holding that D.C. could not ban the possession of handguns in the home. For the first time, the court described an individual right to keep and bear arms as protected by the Second Amendment. Then, less than four years ago, in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, the court again expanded our understanding of the Second Amendment—including extending its protections outside the home by striking down New York’s requirements for a license in order to carry guns in public. The Roberts court, with Justice Clarence Thomas writing for the conservative majority, concluded that the law was too discretionary. It also critically introduced an entirely new legal framework for Second Amendment interpretation.
This new interpretation and framework have raised many questions about the limits on the right to keep and bear arms. One thing the Supreme Court made clear in these landmark cases, though, is that the core purpose of the Second Amendment is lawful self-defense. That purpose recognizes that the Second Amendment right is not limitless. Criminal laws limit how, when, where, and why deadly force—which includes the use of a gun—can be lawful.
In addition to being nonsensical, DO
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The Smash-and-Grab Presidency
March 27, 2026
https://theintercept.com/2026/03/27/briefing-podcast-nikhil-pal-singh/
Donald Trump’s second term has been broadly defined by an overwhelming sense of chaos. Every week the U.S. finds itself in a new crisis of the president’s making. The war in Iran and the broader Middle East is stretching into its fourth week, as the administration prepares to send thousands of troops to the region for a possible ground invasion. The U.S. oil blockade on Cuba has plunged the country deeper into a humanitarian crisis. The Department of Homeland Security sent ICE to airports across the country on Monday to allegedly assist TSA agents who have gone without pay due to a partial government shutdown over congressional efforts to apply the most minimal of reforms to ICE. Meanwhile, Trump’s sons are backing a new drone company vying for a Pentagon contract as the president and his family have amassed about $4 billion in wealth this term, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“It’s a constant stream of violence, corruption, spectacle,” Nikhil Pal Singh tells The Intercept Briefing. “They smash, grab, move on. But I think now they’ve actually broken something.” The professor of social and cultural analysis at New York University and the author of several books, including “Race and America’s Long War” joins host Akela Lacy in a conversation about protests and movement-building in the latest Trump era.
Trump “said the real enemy — the real threat — was within. He reversed the Bush priority, which said, we fight the terrorists over there so we don’t have to fight them at home. And instead said, no, we actually have to bring the fight home. And he brought the fight home,” says Singh. “The idea there then also is that Americans themselves — that is us — we need to be governed violently first and foremost.”
Transcript
Akela Lacy: Welcome to The Intercept Briefing, I’m Akela Lacy, senior politics reporter at The Intercept.
Jessica Washington: And I’m Jessica Washington, politics reporter at the Intercept and co-host of the Intercept Briefing with Akela.
AL: I don’t know about you, Jessie, but I honestly feel like I’ve had constant whiplash the past few months. Maybe it would be helpful for our listeners if we start with just breaking down exactly where we are right now in the world. I’ll do a quick recap.
We are, as many people know, in a full-blown war with Iran after being told for years that that would effectively mean the beginning of the end. The U.S. has killed more than 150 people in boat strikes around the world and successfully kidnapped the Venezuelan president and his wife. Trump has consolidated the nation’s largest paramilitary police force and unleashed it on U.S. cities and now airports. The number of people being detained by ICE is at an all-time high. Federal agents have killed two protesters, and more than a dozen other people have died this year alone at the hands of ICE.
At the same time, prices are soaring. The Treasury just declared the U.S. insolvent, in case you missed that, which I certainly did.
https://fortune.com/2026/03/23/us-government-insolvent-fiscal-crisis-f
ix/
The government is still partially shut down, and Trump and his allies are still withholding documents from the public on Jeffrey Epstein.
And in case anyone forgot, we’re knee-deep in a midterm cycle that’s seen unprecedented levels of dark money and efforts by corporate lobbies to influence elections. So how are you feeling about all of this? How are you processing all of this?
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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How Trump’s army of the religious right is preparing for the apocalypse
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/trump-hegseth-religi
ous-right-iran-war-b2942716.html
Prominent Climate Scientist Resigns From NASA, Citing Trump’s Attack on Science
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/25/climate/kate-marvel-nasa-resign.htm
l
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Trump Signifying Absolutely Nothing
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/04/09/signifying-absolutely-noth
ing-iran-war-otoole/
Trump performed what could be regarded as unconscious parodies of three different scenes from past wars. First, he defined his objective “to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime.” This replays, of course, the buildup to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The George W. Bush administration carefully avoided the word “imminent,” but its rhetoric projected the illusion of clear and present danger. The UK government of Bush’s ally Tony Blair produced an infamous dossier claiming that Iraq could deploy chemical and biological weapons against the West within forty-five minutes of an order from Saddam Hussein.
The second parody was Trump’s message to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and armed forces: “I say tonight that you must lay down your weapons and have complete immunity. Or in the alternative, face certain death. So, lay down your arms.” This echoes Bush’s warning in 2003: “I urge every member of the Iraqi military and intelligence services, if war comes, do not fight for a dying regime that is not worth your own life.” The film running in Trump’s head is a newsreel of Iraqi conscripts surrendering in droves to American forces, having decided that a rotten regime was not worth dying for.
Third, Trump evoked the idea of a mass insurrection by the Iranian people in the aftermath of a bombing campaign by the US and Israel: “When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations.” This too was an act of mimicry. In February 1991, during the first Gulf War, President George H.W. Bush urged “the Iraqi military and the Iraqi people to take matters into their own hands and force Saddam Hussein, the dictator, to step aside.” Aircraft from a coalition of countries led by the US dropped leaflets calling on Iraqi soldiers and civilians to “fill the streets and alleys and bring down Saddam Hussein and his aides.”
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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10 ways the Trump family is involved in a DC corruptopalooza
By David Mastio
I have come up with a list of 10 awful examples of Trumpworld using his position as the most powerful man in the world to make them all richer.
1. Crypto ventures
The Trump family launched multiple cryptocurrency projects just before and after the January 2025 inauguration, netting $1 billion or more in realized profits (including some $500 million from one United Arab Emirates-linked stake alone.) These deals have been tied to policy favors such as UAE access to artificial intelligence computer chips and a pardon for the founder of crypto exchange Binance.
2. Qatar golf resort deal
The Trump Organization partnered with Qatari state-owned Diar and Dar Global for a $5.5 billion Trump International Golf Club and villas in Qatar shortly after the inauguration.
3. UAE-Dubai Trump hotel and tower
A licensing deal was struck with Dar Global for Trump International Hotel & Tower in Dubai (with a private club), part of multiple Arabian Peninsula projects generating millions in upfront fees.
4. Vietnam luxury golf-resort complex
The Trump Organization secured approval for $1.5 billion project including golf courses and hotels with a Vietnamese developer tied to the country’s ruling Communist Party during tariff negotiations.
5. India Mumbai development fees
Ten million dollars in fees have been reported from a new Trump-branded project with Reliance Industries (whose chairman attended Trump state dinner). The company later secured a Venezuelan oil license.
6. Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners fund
Son-in-law Jared Kushner’s private Affinity Partners investment firm Raised billions more from Saudi Arabia ($2 billion alone!), Qatar and UAE sovereign funds while Kushner served as Trump’s Middle East peace envoy. Assets under its management hit $6.2 billion by the end of 2025.
7. Melania Trump Amazon movie deal
Nearly $30 million was paid by Amazon for the money-losing Melania-focused documentary project. Jeff Bezos, the owner of Amazon and The Washington Post, has significant federal contracts and regulatory interests.
8. Trump Media & Technology Group
Trump’s 40% stake in Truth Social’s parent company has boosted his net worth by over $1 billion so far in his presidency, as his posts on the platform announce many federal actions first on the Trump-owned social media platform.
9. Foreign officials, sponsored events at Trump properties
There have been at least 19 visits by foreign officials from 10 countries to Trump’s resorts. Saudi Arabia’s LIV Golf held a major tournament and sponsored events at Trump National Doral.
10. Luxury jet gift
Qatar provided a $400 million gold bedazzled 747 jet for Trump’s use, coinciding with economic deals between the two countries, and the Trump Organization’s Qatar deals. (I did manage to write about this one.)
In a normal administration, any one of these, well, scandals would be front-page news with coverage spanning months, congressional investigations, special prosecutors and the whole deal. But Trump’s chaos has, for the most part, completely blocked them from public view. Who knows which ones fall into the gray areas of ethics laws and which are genuine crimes? Regardless, any one of them is a bigger deal than the Biden administration’s sordid relations with that president’s sleazy son, Hunter.
The audacity of these crimes against good government is amazing. Anyone involved has to know that if any decent person ever becomes president again, all these cases will be investigated with an eye to prosecuting any provable wrongdoing.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/10-ways-the-trump-family-is-invol
ved-in-a-dc-corruptopalooza-opinion/ar-AA1ZBIVD
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
Highly Respected Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, is a truly strong and powerful Leader, with a proven track record of delivering phenomenal results. He fights tirelessly for, and loves, his Great Country and People, just like I do for the United States of America. Viktor works hard to Protect Hungary, Grow the Economy, Create Jobs, Promote Trade, Stop Illegal Immigration, and Ensure LAW AND ORDER! Relations between Hungary and the United States have reached new heights of cooperation and spectacular achievement under my Administration, thanks largely to Prime Minister Orban. I look forward to continuing working closely with him so that both of our Countries can further advance this tremendous path to SUCCESS and cooperation. I was proud to ENDORSE Viktor for Re-Election in 2022, and am honored to do so again. Election Day is April 12, 2026. Hungary: GET OUT AND VOTE FOR VIKTOR ORBAN. He is a true friend, fighter, and WINNER, and has my Complete and Total Endorsement for Re-Election as Prime Minister of Hungary — VIKTOR ORBAN WILL NEVER LET THE GREAT PEOPLE OF HUNGARY DOWN. I AM WITH HIM ALL THE WAY! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/trumps-america-and-the-axis-of-auto
cracy
What this endorsement means depends on what you know about Viktor Orban.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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$150 Oil Could Tip World Economy Into Recession
Mar 31, 2026, 1:00 PM CDT
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/150-Oil-Could-Tip-World-Eco
nomy-Into-Recession.html
Thanks to Trump's war on Iran, economists have warned that activity will fall in the middle of the year if oil prices surge to $150 per barrel and remain there for a period of four months.
Oil prices continued to climb higher on Monday as the Brent Crude benchmark raced past the $116 per barrel mark amid mixed messages between the US, Israel and Iran on the state of the war.
Oxford Economics’ director of global macro research, Ben May, has predicted there would be a contraction in the US economy this year before a recovery in 2027.
Global inflation would also rise to 7.7 per cent this year.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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. . . the former head of Britain’s foreign intelligence service MI6, Alex Younger, told the Economist: “The reality is that the U.S. underestimated the task, and I think as of about two weeks ago lost the initiative to Iran.”
More troubling to ordinary Iranians, Golkar says, is that Trump is suing for peace with a regime more extreme and aggressive than at the beginning of the war.
Hormuz: The Secret Weapon In Plain View
Speaking to reporters at the White House on March 26, Trump offered a succinct summary of why, for more than 40 years, Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz if attacked. “The problem with the straits is this,” he said: “Let's say we do a great job. Say we got 99%. One percent is unacceptable, because 1% is a missile going into the hull of a ship that cost a billion dollars, right?”
That’s precisely the calculation Iran has relied on to deter attacks since the 1980s, when its war with Iraq included a 1987 “Tanker War” that drew in U.S. warships to escort Kuwaiti oil shipments through the Persian Gulf. In the years since, Iran loudly and consistently proclaimed that closure of the Strait was the linchpin of its defense, investing in everything from miniature submarines to mines to swarms of small boats to assure it can do exactly what it’s doing now. Why wasn’t the U.S. prepared? [Trump is why.]
https://time.com/article/2026/03/30/iran-war-strait-hormuz/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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$4 Gasoline is Less Than Half the Story
The biggest losers from the Iran War are buyers of diesel, jet fuel, chemicals and fertilizer
By Paul Krugman | Apr 01, 2026
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/4-gasoline-is-less-than-half-the
Although I expected the war on Iran to be a disaster, I didn’t expect the Trump administration to be implicitly conceding defeat after barely a month. Yet that’s where we are:
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
All of those countries that can't get jet fuel because of the Strait of Hormuz, like the United Kingdom, which refused to get involved in the decapitation of Iran, I have a suggestion for you: Number 1, buy from the U.S., we have plenty, and Number 2, build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait, and just TAKE IT. You'll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the U.S.A, won't be there to help you anymore, just like you weren't there for us. Iran has been, essentially, decimated. The hard part is done. Go get your own oil! President DJT
9.61k ReTruths 39k Likes Mar 31, 2026, 7:11 AM
The stock market has soared on the news of potential U.S surrender, which tells you something about how the war is going. Unfortunately, declaring victory and running away will be a lot more difficult than Trump thinks. For one thing, thousands of U.S. ground troops are on their way to the Persian Gulf, and it will be very hard to avoid succumbing to the temptation to use them, at which point we will have entered what Robert Pape calls the “escalation trap.”
At the same time, Trump’s claim that the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is other countries’ problem is whistling in the dark. Trump is telling Europeans that if they lack the “courage” to seize the jet fuel they need — funny how the vastly larger U.S. military isn’t doing the job — they can just “buy from the U.S., we have plenty.” Here’s what has happened to the average price of jet fuel at major U.S. airports:
Does this look to you as if we have “plenty”? It doesn’t look that way to airline executives:
REUTERS: United Airlines to cut 5% of scheduled flights as fuel prices soar
The reality is that U.S. prices of petroleum distillates and other products in which Persian Gulf nations are key producers have soared. The rise in gasoline prices, for which the national average just hit $4 a gallon, has made headlines. But other prices are also hugely important.
Most non-electric cars run on gasoline, but most trucks are fueled with diesel. And diesel prices are up even more than gasoline prices — approximately $1.70 per gallon as opposed to $1:
The moral here is that the United States retains a vital interest in seeing the Strait of Hormuz reopened. Much as Trump would like to declare victory and insist that the blockade is other countries’ problem, reality won’t oblige him.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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It's obvious SECOND. Trump is fucking up so bad on everything that Jack and comrade signym are staying home. They must be hiding in the garden thread. Shit, they aren't even posting in their own threads.
T 
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