#Politics and Government

[silencedogood1969]

You stood beneath a stolen flag,

a coward’s grin behind your mask,

breaking glass like you broke your oath,

spilling blood, spilling truth, spilling both.

The Capitol stood like a sentinel of time,

until you tore it down, crime by fucking crime.

The floors ran red where history walked,

and democracy bled as your chants mocked.

You came as a mob, a tide of rage,

hands on riot shields, fists on the stage.

Tear gas kissed the marble halls,

while “patriots” desecrated sacred walls.

Tarrio, you fucking coward,

Rhodes, you spineless son of a bitch.

Barnett, who pissed on freedom

while democracy screamed in the ditch.

QAnon prophets in horned disguise,

Nazis and “militia” with vacant eyes.

You called it liberty, called it war,

but all you left were shattered doors.

Then the ink of the pen, the coward’s decree,

fifteen hundred pardons for your fucking heresy.

Trump stood tall on lies today,

“Unify!” he cried, while justice decayed.

The audacity of that son of a bitch,

to pardon the mob and their seditious itch.

“Merit-based justice,” he dared to say—

yet he handed treason a golden bouquet.

He spat in the face of every cop who stood,

every drop of blood spilled in those halls of wood.

He pardoned the wreckers, the rioters, the damned,

and gave democracy its final backhand.

Where were you, McConnell, when the blood dried?

Where were you, Thune, when democracy cried?

Greene, you cheered; your voice rang clear—

you gutless motherfuckers, complicit in fear.

Your silence, your nods, your partisan games,

have carved your legacy into the flames.

You are the ghosts of this dying nation,

mute accomplices to its damnation.

And to you who stayed silent, stayed home that day,

clutching your morals as the country frayed,

spare me your protests, your outrage, your blame—

this fire’s on you; you stoked the flame.

You fucking stood back, let them torch the house,

and now you want to cry about the ashes.

Don’t you dare whisper a single goddamn word—

you let others fight while the country burned.

The tear of glass, the battering ram,

the fists that struck, the shields that slammed.

The cries of fear, the clash of will,

the officers falling, the chambers still.

They stormed the gates with malice bright,

and made a coup of that January night.

Freedom fell with every cheer,

the sound of treason in the atmosphere.

And for those who fell defending the line,

we carry their memory through space and time.

But let me tell you something, loud and true:

You may pardon the guilty, but we’re coming for you.

Two years from now, we’ll clear the House;

we’ll take your seats and call you out.

We’ll vote, we’ll march, we’ll raise our fists,

we’ll break the chain of your accomplice list.

And four years from now, your reign will end,

this nightmare gone, this wound will mend.

You’ve made a coup the morning’s norm,

treason an acceptable form,

but you don’t get the final say—

we’ll take this country back one day.

Traitors, cowards, you hollowed the flag,

turned stars to scars, left stripes to sag.

You spat on the graves of those who fought,

and shredded the ideals they thought were taught.

Your pardons are nothing, your names will fade,

while the strength of the people sharpens its blade.

This isn’t your country—it never was.

It belongs to the dreamers, to the cause.

So hear this now, from sea to sea:

We are America, the land of the free.

You tore it down, but we’ll rebuild—

your names forgotten, your dreams killed.

This is the anthem of those betrayed,

a promise to history: you won’t evade.

For every flag, for every vote,

for every tear in the words we wrote.

True patriots rise, unbroken, free—

the soul of this nation will always be.

We are coming.

We are rising.

We are America.

[klbmsw]

THIS

[folk-punk-baby]

took this quiz and I’m not surprised by my results

[theladyhibiscus]

Enough with the political ads please! 🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢

[inspired-lesson-plans]

Do Now:

Community Fact Check.

Research the information in the above post to ascertain the veracity.

Fun fact: Arizona is the only place in the country where the state mine inspector is an elected position

Another fun fact: this is one of my favorite political ads of all time, straight out of 2014

[beauty-funny-trippy]

[geminisee]

x

[never-quite-buried]

Nope now it’s at the point that i’m shocked that people off tt don’t know what’s going down. I have no reach but i’ll sum it up anyway.

SCOTUS is hearing on the constitutionality of the ban as tiktok and creators are arguing that it is a violation of our first amendment rights to free speech, freedom of the press and freedom to assemble.

SCOTUS: tiktok bad, big security concern because china bad!

Tiktok lawyers: if china is such a concern why are you singling us out? Why not SHEIN or temu which collect far more information and are less transparent with their users?

SCOTUS (out loud): well you see we don’t like how users are communicating with each other, it’s making them more anti-american and china could disseminate pro china propaganda (get it? They literally said they do not like how we Speak or how we Assemble. Independent journalists reach their audience on tt meaning they have Press they want to suppress)

Tiktok users: this is fucking bullshit i don’t want to lose this community what should we do? We don’t want to go to meta or x because they both lobbied congress to ban tiktok (free market capitalism amirite? Paying off your local congressmen to suppress the competition is totally what the free market is about) but nothing else is like TikTok

A few users: what about xiaohongshu? It’s the Chinese version of tiktok (not quite, douyin is the chinese tiktok but it’s primarily for younger users so xiaohongshu was chosen)

16 hours later:

Tiktok as a community has chosen to collectively migrate TO a chinese owned app that is purely in Chinese out of utter spite and contempt for meta/x and the gov that is backing them.

My fyp is a mix of “i would rather mail memes to my friends than ever return to instagram reels” and “i will xerox my data to xi jinping myself i do not care i share my ss# with 5 other people anyway” and “im just getting ready for my day with my chinese made coffee maker and my Chinese made blowdryer and my chinese made clothing and listening to a podcast on my chinese made phone and get in my car running on chinese manufactured microchips but logging into a chinese social media? Too much for our gov!” etc.

So the government was scared that tiktok was creating a sense of class consciousness and tried to kill it but by doing so they sent us all to xiaohongshu. And now? Oh it’s adorable seeing this gov-manufactured divide be crossed in such a way.

This is adorable and so not what they were expecting. Im sure they were expecting a reluctant return to reels and shorts to fill the void but tiktokers said fuck that, we will forge connections across the world. Who you tell me is my enemy i will make my friend. That’s pretty damn cool.

[ascending-royal]

Brace yourself for sh*tty reality tv and badly done episodes/show cancellations.

Like yeah, support the writers and all but be aware of how this is gonna effect your media.

*still bitter about pushing daisies and heroes*

Writer's Guild of America voted to strike, good for them

[politijohn]

Source

[sailing-ever-west]

the trolley problem vs. systemic oppression: a comic.

[nando161mando]

A perfect snapshot of America in the trending articles from 12/6/24

[animentality]

[neosilverthorn]

I am going to vent.

I am apocalyptically furious with so many of you on the left, those of you were "we get what we want or we don't vote." Yes, you, you thrice-damned fuckwits who felt so goddamned entitled to have everything your way or not at all.

We warned you. We fucking warned you what would happen if the right got control back. We warned you that politics is a fucking game of inches. That rarely if ever is a candidate going to be ideal. That much as you might feel bile bubbling up in your throats, compromise is a fucking necessity if we're going to survive.

That you were playing with the gallows lever, and we would hang for it if you didn't quit.

Trump was sworn in again yesterday. Even before then, he was selling government positions off to those who swore fealty, and since we have seen PBS defunded and your precious TikTok censored simply for offering any point of view that diverges from that of the Republican National Party's narrative.

We have seen the start of Trump's prosecution of anyone who isn't white with the shutdown of the immigration app. We have seen the US withdraw from the World Health Organization. We have seen a withdrawl from the Paris Climate Accord, an act that could understandably lead to the end of all life on Earth as we know it; The fucking end of the era of human existence.

I truly, truly hope that you damned fools enjoyed not voting. We'll be lucky to have another election that simply isn't a one-party affair, if there's elections at all. I fully expect them to sieze on some excuse to invoke martial law and suspend elections.

I hope those of you who count yourselves among us in the the LGBTQ+ minorities are prepared to start hiding unless jail or death appeals to you. Idaho's state legislators are already pushing the Supreme Court to overturn same-sex marriage.

You wanted all or nothing, and bless your arrogant asses, we tried to tell you it was. That if you didn't vote, the consequences would be lethal, if not for you then for others like you.

And still you didn't listen.

I genuinely hope that hubris brings you comfort as we all hang.

[head-post]

HP Insight

Implications of Ukraine’s territorial concessions

The issue of imminent territorial concessions that Ukraine will be forced to make as part of potential peace talks has been firmly established in the media recently. Insiders are increasingly reporting that a consensus position is gradually forming in the US regarding the unrealistic nature of Kyiv’s plans for the full or at least partial return of territories. Although this issue is not of primary importance for any of the parties to the conflict, except perhaps for Ukraine itself, it will have an extraordinary impact on all other topics of the negotiation process, as well as on global security issues.

The teams of Joe Biden and Donald Trump are leaning towards Russia retaining the 20 per cent of Ukraine’s territory that is now under Russian control, The New York Times reported.

The Financial Times previously reported that pro-Ukrainian coalition countries are increasingly discussing a plan that would require Ukraine to give up its claim to some of the territories.

Trump recognises the unrealistic idea of “forcing” Russia out of Ukraine’s former territories and others are beginning to understand this, Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz said on ABC television.

Ukraine’s position on the issue remains inconsistent and chaotic. After the collapse of the Istanbul agreements, Kyiv broadcast a hardline stance of returning to the 1991 borders. Then the Office of the President gradually began to soften its comments and talk about a possible return to the 2022 borders, and Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged the lack of forces of the AFU to return the territories by force. However, when the public began to float ideas that Ukraine could sacrifice some of the territories for the sake of joining NATO, Zelensky again said that Kyiv “does not trade territories.”

Judging by the statements of officials from the US, Germany and a number of other countries, Ukraine is not expected to join NATO, the issue of “trading territories” is closed, and Ukraine will have to make concessions not for the sake of membership in the Alliance, but for the sake of ending the conflict. Such a “deal” will have the most serious impact on Ukraine itself, but the revision of the border will also affect other issues of global politics.

What will Kyiv face

The end of the conflict will oblige the Ukrainian authorities to end martial law, which will automatically start the procedure of preparation for the next elections. The law on martial law sets out a clear time frame.

The current authorities, of course, can abandon their earlier theses about the impossibility of holding elections during martial law and, realising the outcome of the failed peace treaty, hold elections before it is signed to try to maintain their position for the next five years.

However, the basic scenario remains the holding of elections after the signing of the peace treaty, in which case Zelensky’s team will face a mobilisation crisis and criticism of the senselessness of military action and the sacrifices made by the Ukrainian authorities in rejecting the Istanbul agreements.

Given the peculiarities of Ukraine’s political culture, the presence of an impressive repressive apparatus in the current authorities, as well as a significant number of citizens with combat experience, Ukraine risks a full-scale and protracted internal political crisis with vital threats to Ukrainian statehood at the end of the negotiations.

In any scenario of the conflict’s end, Ukraine would face the political consequences of the public demobilisation effect. The authorities purposefully postponed the resolution of a large number of problems, pointing to wartime priorities.

However, territorial losses and likely concessions on other issues would act as a catalyst for ideological breakdown. The collapse of the goals that have been declared by the Ukrainian government for three years will lead to a crisis of the national idea.

It could be the idea of post-war reconstruction, but in the context of population outflow and significant territorial losses, the new Ukrainian authorities will face the challenges of reinventing the state myth.

The discussion of Ukraine’s territorial concessions also touches on the loss of resources crucial to Kyiv. Much of Ukraine’s energy mix was previously based on the use of coal from Donbas: metallurgical, power and chemical industries. The loss of coal mines will lead to a reduction in production, affecting both industry and export potential.

Implications for Russia

The process of political, legal and infrastructural integration of the new regions began from the moment they joined Russia. The new regions have long since established power institutions, adopted the legal acts necessary for the formation of a regulatory framework, and the new regions are joining national projects.

However, the process of integration and restoration of the new regions is hampered by active hostilities, as well as the constant expansion of the controlled territories due to the advance of the Russian Armed Forces. The end of the hot phase of the conflict and the consolidation of internationally recognised state borders would speed up these processes.

The authorities send optimistic signals, noting that the experience of integration of Crimea and Sevastopol can be widely used in the new regions. The new regions have been affected by the fighting and require the restoration of industrial enterprises, transport and communal infrastructure. At the moment, due to the lack of necessary information, it is impossible to estimate even approximate costs.

In addition, the authorities will have to make difficult decisions regarding the prioritisation and feasibility of rebuilding various facilities.

Global security issues

Recognition of new territorial borders will exacerbate global security issues in Europe. Poland, the Baltics and a number of other countries will demand some kind of “guarantees” and “compensations” from their NATO partners.

The drawing of new borders is likely to trigger a debate on security architecture and mechanisms. The large number of mutually exclusive demands of the parties to this process could lead to the process dragging on for several years after the end of the hot phase of the conflict in Ukraine.

International recognition of Russia’s territorial acquisitions, achieved militarily, could exacerbate other disputes and conflicts. We can already see that Trump does not rule out a forceful scenario of annexing Greenland. Which, on the one hand, may be part of bargaining, and on the other hand, a real option for the realisation of US national interests.

At the same time, there are a significant number of smouldering conflicts and territorial disputes in the world, the participants of which may perceive the case of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict as one of the possible scenarios for their resolution.

International recognition of Russia’s control over Crimea and Donbas theoretically opens a window of opportunity to revise not only those sanctions imposed after February 2022, but also the entire sanctions regime in place since 2014.

The scenario of a complete lifting of sanctions seems unrealistic, but a partial easing is possible, as players interested in restoring economic ties with Russia have additional arguments in favour of returning to previous practices.

Of course, the final configuration will be influenced by various parameters: how much territory Ukraine will lose, with what wording the new border will be fixed, how the border will be controlled, and much more. However, the intrigues described above can already be traced now, and their intensity will be determined by the outcome of the peace talks.

THE ARTICLE IS THE AUTHOR’S SPECULATION AND DOES NOT CLAIM TO BE TRUE. ALL INFORMATION IS TAKEN FROM OPEN SOURCES. THE AUTHOR DOES NOT IMPOSE ANY SUBJECTIVE CONCLUSIONS.

Emma Robichaud for Head-Post.com

Send your author content for publication in the INSIGHT section to headpost.social@gmail.com