North America

East Asia

Podcast: South Korea and MAGA-fascism

In Episode 262 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg contrasts the intransigent resistance to the attempted power-grab by would-be right-wing strongman Yoon Suk Yeol in South Korea (and Robert Fico in Slovakia) with the craven capitulation to the consolidating Trump regime in the US—despite the unconstitutionality of his very presidency, the fascist stench from his team of oligarchs, and despite the emergence of evidence that points to actual hacking of the vote to effect his victory. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo of Seoul protests via Twitter)

North America

Trump rushes out hardline migration agenda

During his first days back in office, Donald Trump rapidly started implementing his hardline migration agenda, including by declaring a state of emergency at the US southern border. The move allows his administration to access billions of dollars to expand the building of a border wall and to deploy the military and national guard to the area. Around 1,500 active duty soldiers are already being deployed. Trump also reinstated the controversial “Remain in Mexico” program from his first administration. This policy, which requires people to wait for asylum appointments in Mexico, helped to create a now-perennial humanitarian crisis in northern Mexico. The Trump administration has also shut down CBP One—a cell phone app for scheduling asylum appointments—leaving thousands of people stranded in Mexico, and suspended the US refugee resettlement program, as well as cancelling travel plans for refugees who had already been approved to enter the country. Trump’s promised mass deportation of millions of undocumented people has yet to get underway, but his administration has begun laying the groundwork for expanded immigration raids—potentially including on schools, churches, and hospitals—and has threatened to prosecute any local officials who don’t comply. (Image: White House)

North America

AGs challenge Trump bid to end birthright citizenship

Attorneys general from 22 states filed a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship. Central to the lawsuit is the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, which states that “[a]ll persons born or naturalized in the United States…are citizens of the United States…” The clause was last interpreted by the Supreme Court in 1898 in United States v. Wong Kim Ark as granting citizenship to all babies born in the country. The coalition of attorneys general, representing states including Massachusetts, Illinois and New York, argue in the lawsuit that Trump’s executive order undermines constitutional principles and threatens to create a class of stateless individuals born within the United States. (Image: PressBooks)

North America

Podcast: the Gaza ceasefire and MAGA-fascism

In Episode 261 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg urges that Donald Trump is an illegitimate president under the 14th Amendment, and that any propaganda exploitation of the Gaza ceasefire to sell his fascist agenda to progressives must be rejected. All political signs indicate that his white-supremacist rule will ultimately mean a disaster for the Palestinians, and it is imperative that progressives do not take the pseudo-peacenik bait—but, on the contrary, urgently mobilize to build resistance to MAGA-fascism. Listen on SoundCloudor via Patreon. (Photo: Kevin Eagleson/Gaylord News via Oklahoma City Free Press)

North America

Podcast: nullify the election! VI

Mere days before Donald Trump is to be inaugurated, Bill Weinberg continues to raise the demand for nullification of his election on 14th Amendment grounds. As Congress certified his victory last week, a demonstration calling for this was held in Washington, organized by podcaster (and former Trump campaign worker) Jessica Denson. But the centrist establishment—including Kamala Harris, who presided over the certification—is utterly capitulating to the fascist takeover of the country. In vivid contrast, protesters courageously take to the streets and politicians refuse cooperation to defend democracy from authoritarian power-grabs in South Korea, Georgia, Romania, Slovakia and Mozambique. In Episode 260, the CounterVortex podcast urges a last-ditch line of defense: pressure on Chief Justice John Roberts to refuse to administer the oath of office. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo via BlueSky)

Watching the Shadows

Appeals court overturns net neutrality rules

The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) did not have legal authority when it reinstated net neutrality rules last May, striking a blow to President Joe Biden’s telecommunications policy. Net neutrality is the idea that internet service providers (ISPs) must provide access to all content without favoring or blocking particular websites or services. In May, the FCC voted to classify ISPs as “telecommunications services” as opposed to “information services,” thereby subjecting them to net neutrality rules. Several telecommunications companies challenged the decision. The Sixth Circuit found that ISPs are information services and thus net neutrality rules do not apply. In doing so, it applied the US Supreme Court’s decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo Secretary of Commerce, which abolished the deference afforded to administrative bodies in interpreting their enabling statutes. (Photo: David Lohner via Flickr)

North America

Biden extends bans on offshore drilling

President Joe Biden issued two memoranda to prohibit new offshore drilling within three ocean and coastal regions, compromising over 625 million acres. One of the memoranda withdraws the entire eastern US Atlantic coast and eastern Gulf of Mexico as well as the continental Pacific Coast. The other provides the withdrawal of certain portions of the Northern Bering Sea in Alaska. According to the White House press release, the withdrawals in these regions are aimed at protecting “coastal communities, marine ecosystems, and local economies—including fishing, recreation, and tourism—from oil spills and other impacts of offshore drilling.” President-elect Donald Trump quickly commented that Biden’s action is “ridiculous” and promised to “unban it immediately.” Trump’s selected White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, characterized the memoranda as “political revenge on the American people who gave President Trump a mandate to increase drilling and lower gas prices.” (Photo: Berardo62 via Wikimedia Commons)

North America

Podcast: nullify the election! V

Mere days before Congress is to certify the Electoral College votes, a movement has finally emerged to have Donald Trump disqualified from office under the Insurrection Clause of the 14th Amendment. A “14th Now March” in Washington is raising the demand, and is being promoted by the podcast and vlog Lights On with Jessica Denson. Constitutional law scholars Evan Davis and David Schulte make the case in an editorial for The Hill, “Congress has the power to block Trump from taking office, but lawmakers must act now.” Several elected officials have been barred from office under the Insurrection Clause since ratification of the 14th Amendment in 1868, but applying it to a former president who led an insurrection is the ultimate test of American democracy. In Episode 259 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg urges that this constitutional mechanism be used, and Trump’s victory be nullified. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Image via Free Speech for People)

Planet Watch

New York state climate law makes polluters pay

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill into law empowering the state government to levy heavy fines on fossil fuel companies. The fines will go to a “superfund” that pays for addressing environmental damages caused by human-driven climate change. The Climate Change Superfund Act creates an adaptation cost recovery program which will be paid for by fossil fuel companies and is estimated to raise $75 billion over 25 years. Climate change is expected to cost New York taxpayers half a trillion dollars in repair and preparations for extreme weather between now and 2050. (Photo of East River Power Plant, New York City, via Wikimedia Commons)

Planet Watch

Podcast: nullify the election! IV

Around the world, with inspiring heroism and courage, people are putting everything on the line to defend democracy and prevent the consolidation of dictatorships. In the Republic of Georgia, protests continue in the wake of contested elections that consolidated the rule of an authoritarian pro-Russia party, and the incumbent opposition-backed president is refusing to step down until new polls are held. In Romania, where a Putin-favored right-wing populist won the first-round vote for the presidency, that round has now been annulled by the country’s high court in response to a public outcry over Russian meddling. In South Korea, President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration of martial law was met with defiant protests, prompting an overturn of the declaration by the National Assembly, followed by a vote to impeach Yoon, and the opening of a criminal investigation on charges of “insurrection.” Mozambique has seen months of angry protests since contested elections that saw yet another victory for the entrenched machine FRELIMO—despite a deadly police crackdown. And in Brazil, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, indicted for leading a Trump-style attempted auto-golpe in 2022, has been barred from office. In Episode 257 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg again asks: Why is everyone so quiet here in the United States, the seat of the empire, where the stakes are the highest? (Photo of protest in Tbilisi, Georgia: DerFuchs via Wikimedia Commons)

North America

Ontario: bicycle lanes and Canadian Charter rights

Canadian bicycling advocacy group Cycle Toronto along with two individual cyclists, Eva Stranger-Ross and Narada Kiondo, have filed a court challenge against new provincial legislation granting the Ontario government authority over the installation and removal of municipal bike lanes. The group argues that the law, Ontario Bill 212, infringes on cyclists’ rights to life and security under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. (Photo: Hallgrimsson via Wikimedia Commons)

North America

Podcast: nullify the election! III

In Episode 254 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg continues to make the case for mass pressure to demand nullification of the election—on the constitutional basis of the Insurrection Clause. Trump indisputably instigated an insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, and the Supreme Court has ruled that invoking the Insurrection Clause to bar him from the presidency is the prerogative of Congress. And the Electoral College has the power to refuse to seat him on the same grounds. A candidate for county commissioner in New Mexico has already been barred from office on the basis of having participated in the Capitol insurrection—and MAGA congressional candidate Madison Cawthorn could also have been barred on that basis if he hadn’t been primaried out as the case over the matter was still pending before the courts. Leading Democrats like Rep. Jamie Raskin have spoken in support of such disqualifications—yet are mysteriously silent with the country now on the countdown to a fascist takeover. Furthermore, some cybersecurity experts are calling for a forensic audit of the election, citing evidence of software breaches and other irregularities. In Romania, where a Putin-favored right-wing populist has won the first-round vote in the presidential election, a recount has been ordered by the courts in response to a public outcry. And protests continue to mount in the Republic of Georgia, following a contested election in which a Putin-favored right-wing populist party cemented its majority. Why is everyone so quiet here in the United States, the seat of the empire, where the stakes are the highest? (Image: WTFA)