Neo-liberalism

Trump Vetoes Colorado Clean Water Bill—Then Tells State’s Officials to ‘Rot in Hell’

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Original article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

President Donald Trump takes questions at his Mar-a-Lago estate on December 22, 2025 in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

The bill vetoed by Trump would have provided funds to finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit, a 130-mile pipeline designed to deliver clean, filtered water to 50,000 residents in the eastern part of the state.

President Donald Trump issued the first veto of his second term this week when he rejected a bill with bipartisan support aimed at ensuring access to clean drinking water in rural Colorado.

As reported by Colorado Public Radio on Tuesday, the bill in question would have provided funds to finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit, a 130-mile pipeline designed to deliver clean, filtered water to 50,000 residents in the eastern part of the state.

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In a statement announcing his video [veto?] of the bill, Trump cited concerns about the size of the US deficit, even though the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that finishing the conduit will cost less than $500,000.

“My administration is committed to preventing American taxpayers from funding expensive and unreliable policies,” said Trump, whose signature legislation, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, is projected to increase the US deficit by $3.4 trillion over the next decade. “Ending the massive cost of taxpayer handouts and restoring fiscal sanity is vital to economic growth and the fiscal health of the nation.”

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), a longtime Trump ally who sponsored the legislation, blasted the president for vetoing “a completely non-controversial, bipartisan bill that passed both the House and Senate unanimously.”

Boebert also hinted that Trump’s reasons for passing the bill could be political retribution over her effort to force the release of files related to the criminal prosecution of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who for years was a friend of the president.

“I sincerely hope this veto has nothing to do with political retaliation for calling out corruption and demanding accountability,” Boebert said. “Americans deserve leadership that puts people over politics.”

It’s not clear what Trump’s motives were for vetoing the bill, though he has been feuding with elected officials in Colorado over the continued imprisonment of Tina Peters, the former county clerk of Mesa County, Colorado who was convicted in 2024 of seven charges related to her allowing unlawful access to voting machines in the wake of the 2020 presidential election.

Trump has demanded that Colorado release Peters, and he even went so far as to give her a presidential pardon, even though she was convicted on state charges rather than federal charges where such a pardon would carry real legal weight.

In a New Year’s Eve Truth Social post, Trump once again made false claims about Peters’ case.

“God Bless Tina Peters, who is now, for two years out of nine, sitting in a Colorado Maximum Security Prison, at the age of 73, and sick, for the ‘crime’ of trying to stop the massive voter fraud that goes on in her State,” Trump wrote.

In reality, there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in Colorado during the 2020 election.

Trump finished off his post by lashing out at Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubinstein, a Republican whose office successfully put Peters in prison for a nine-year sentence.

“To the Scumbag Governor, and the disgusting ‘Republican’ (RINO!) DA, who did this to her (nothing happens to the Dems and their phony Mail In Ballot System that makes it impossible for a Republican to win an otherwise very winnable State!), I wish them only the worst,” Trump wrote. “May they rot in Hell. FREE TINA PETERS!”

Original article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes' concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country's economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.

Continue ReadingTrump Vetoes Colorado Clean Water Bill—Then Tells State’s Officials to ‘Rot in Hell’

ICE Plots $100 Million ‘Wartime Recruitment’ Drive Aimed at Hiring Gun Enthusiasts

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Original article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Federal agents block people protesting an ICE immigration raid at a nearby licensed cannabis farm on July 10, 2025 near Camarillo, California. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

The propaganda blitz will be aimed at “people who have attended UFC fights, listened to patriotic podcasts, or shown an interest in guns and tactical gear,” according to the Washington Post.

The Trump administration is planning a massive propaganda campaign aimed at recruiting thousands of new federal immigration enforcement officers to carry out its mass deportation agenda.

The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that it had obtained internal documents revealing that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is planning to spend $100 million over the next year on what the agency describes as a “wartime recruitment” drive.

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The propaganda blitz will be targeted at highly specific demographics, including “people who have attended UFC fights, listened to patriotic podcasts, or shown an interest in guns and tactical gear,” according to the Post.

The ICE drive would also use an ad-targeting technique called “geofencing” to send recruitment ads to users’ phone browsers if they are in the vicinity of certain locations, such as military bases, NASCAR races, college campuses, and gun shows.

The ads being designed for the recruitment drive will be based around current appeals that depict joining ICE as part of a “sacred duty” to “defend the homeland” from “foreign invaders,” the Post reported.

This rhetoric is similar to the language used in a recent ICE job post flagged by University of Wisconsin–Madison sociologist Jess Calarco. The listing asked prospective recruits if they are “ready to defend the homeland” by joining “an elite team dedicated to… securing our nation’s safety.”

Calarco noted that the job post “reads like a video game ad,” which she said “is almost certainly by design.”

Sarah Saldaña, a director of ICE under the Obama administration, told the Post that it is worrying to see the Trump administration casting such a wide net for people who lack any experience in law enforcement and who may be eager for what the Post described as “all-out combat.”

The recruitment blitz comes amid new indications that the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign is falling far short of its goals.

The New Republic‘s Greg Sargent on Wednesday wrote that immigration arrests this year have fallen far short of the goal of 3,000 people per day set by top Trump aide Stephen Miller, and it seems highly unlikely that Miller will realize his dream of deporting 1 million people per year.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow with the American Immigration Council, told Sargent that “it’s clear that they have not achieved the shock-and-awe campaign of mass deportations that they wanted, and they are still running into quite a lot of obstacles.”

Reichlin-Melnick also predicted that “there will still be millions of people here who are undocumented” after Trump leaves office in 2028, as the administration “will not be able to deport even the majority of undocumented immigrants in four years.”

The Trump administration earlier in the year announced plans to entice new ICE recruits by offering them $50,000 sign-up bonuses and assistance with repaying student loans in a bid to double the agency’s head count.

Original article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes' concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country's economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
Continue ReadingICE Plots $100 Million ‘Wartime Recruitment’ Drive Aimed at Hiring Gun Enthusiasts

Campaigner turned down MBE over ‘scapegoating’ of people with disabilities

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/30/campaigner-turned-down-mbe-over-scapegoating-of-people-with-disabilities

Tressa Burke was recommended by the prime minister for the honour for her services to people with disabilities. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

Exclusive: In letter declining proposed award, Tressa Burke, CEO of Glasgow Disability Alliance, accused government of ‘fuelling hatred’

The head of one of Scotland’s foremost disability rights charities says she turned down an MBE in the recent new year honours because the UK government was “fuelling hatred, blame and scapegoating of people with disabilities”.

Tressa Burke, chief executive officer of the Glasgow Disability Alliance, had been recommended by the prime minister for the honour for her services to people with disabilities. Over two decades, Burke has grown the organisation from seed into a nationally recognised voice for disabled people in Scotland’s largest city, and supported more than 5,000 members through the pandemic.

But in her letter declining the proposed award, seen by the Guardian, Burke told the Cabinet Office: “I feel that I cannot accept a personal honour because disabled people are being so dishonoured at this time.

“In fact we are being demonised, dehumanised and scapegoated for political choices and policy failures by consecutive governments.”

…

Burke, who emphasises she means no disrespect to colleagues in the voluntary sector who have accepted similar honours, explains that she received the letter of recommendation on the day of the UK budget, which introduced stricter assessments for personal independent payments, frozen or reduced universal credit health top-ups and cuts to the Motability scheme.

“The budget was an opportunity to send out a signal not about how much disabled people cost but about how much disabled people are worth and are valued by society.”

Instead, she says, it has “supercharged the inequalities and unfairness disabled people face”.

…

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/30/campaigner-turned-down-mbe-over-scapegoating-of-people-with-disabilities

Keir Starmer explains the moral case for cutting disability benefits. He says work will set you free.
Keir Starmer explains the moral case for cutting disability benefits. He says work will set you free.
Continue ReadingCampaigner turned down MBE over ‘scapegoating’ of people with disabilities

MPs question UK Palantir contracts after investigation reveals security concerns

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https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/dec/22/mps-question-uk-palantir-contracts-security-concerns-investigation

The UK defence secretary, John Healey (left), signs a £1.5bn strategic investment deal in September with Palantir’s chief executive, Alex Karp. Photograph: Lucy North/PA

Journalists find Swiss government rejected company over fears US intelligence might gain access to sensitive data

UK MPs have raised concerns about the government’s contracts with Palantir after an investigation published in Switzerland highlighted allegations about the suitability and security of its products.

The investigation by the Zurich-based research collective WAV and the Swiss online magazine Republik details Palantir’s efforts, over the course of seven years, to sell its products to Swiss federal agencies.

Palantir is a US company that provides software to integrate and analyse data scattered across different systems, such as in the health service. It also provides artificial intelligence-enabled military targeting systems.

The investigation cites an expert report, internal to the Swiss army, that assessed Palantir’s status as a US company meant there was a possibility sensitive data shared with it could be accessed by the US government and intelligence services.

British MPs have voiced concerns over the US data company in light of the report.

“Palantir … is an organisation that the British government, in terms of the NHS, in terms of contracts, should stay very far away from … I think the Swiss army is right to be suspicious,” said the Labour MP Clive Lewis.

The government “needs to undertake transparent due diligence” on the conduct of Palantir and other big tech companies, said Rachael Maskell, the MP for York Central.

…

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/dec/22/mps-question-uk-palantir-contracts-security-concerns-investigation

Continue ReadingMPs question UK Palantir contracts after investigation reveals security concerns

Against the armed forces ‘gap year,’ militarism and the drive to war

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/against-armed-forces-gap-year-militarism-and-drive-war

 Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer talks to soldiers during a visit to the Netherlands marines training base, June 24, 2025

Labour’s cynical recruitment drive normalises militarism, diverts attention from youth unemployment and public service cuts, and seeks to build consent for an increasingly aggressive defence agenda, argues GEORGINA ANDREWS

THE Labour government has announced that it will launch an armed forces “gap year” for under-25s. It will initially be open to 150 recruits, expanding to 1,000 in the future, with a starting salary of around £26,000.

It will include training in the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force for those looking for a career in the military.

Presented as an opportunity to young people, this scheme in reality is to manufacture consent for warfare and militarism among youth as more personnel leave the military rather than join it these days.

…

This military gap year scheme is cited as tackling youth unemployment which has reached a staggering 15.3 per cent, meaning 702,000 young people are not in education, employment or training, up 60,000 from last year.

Youth unemployment is intrinsically linked to cuts to public services, which are in crisis. Genuine job opportunities for youth are lacking, which might make this scheme tempting for some young people, and highlights the lack of genuine investment in youth and public services from successive governments. Young people demand jobs not bombs.

Young communists oppose this gap-year scheme, which promotes careers in the military to young people instead of genuinely investing in youth and public services to tackle unemployment. Young people should be part of building strong and organised labour, peace and progressive movements to demand peace, fully funded public services, and the implementation of the ADR in their workplaces, campuses and communities.

Vast military expenditure increases must end in favour of the demilitarised strategy on conflict, which promotes human security, co-operation and diplomacy, outlined by the ADR. Public services should be fully and adequately funded by an end to militarism and drive to war alongside other measures.

The Communist Party and its youth wing the Young Communist League offer youth an alternative to militarism and drive to war, through Britain’s Road to Socialism. Let us build the united front against war and austerity for peace, jobs and socialism in our lifetime.

Georgina Andrews is general secretary of the Young Communist League.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/against-armed-forces-gap-year-militarism-and-drive-war

Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
Genocide denying UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspending 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government's support for Israel's Gaza genocide and the UK government and military's active participation in genocide.
Genocide denying UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspending 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government’s support for Israel’s Gaza genocide and the UK government and military’s active participation in genocide.

Continue ReadingAgainst the armed forces ‘gap year,’ militarism and the drive to war