We try to figure out what the fuck is happening in the US as we chat about the low rent car commercial at the White House, the human shields of cops protecting Tesla dealerships, how Musk has become (by his own actions) a scapegoat for the public’s hatred, and the ongoing disintegration of social bonds and moral solidarity under a fascist regime. Plus a new data analysis system called ShadowDragon that is supercharging the surveillance capabilities of ICE, DEA, DoS, and more. We endeavor to analyze the abyss, organize against the abyss, but not get caught staring into the abyss.
••• Stalled Audits and a Skeleton Staff: Inside Trump’s War on the I.R.S. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/10/us/politics/irs-taxes-trump-musk-federal-workers.html
••• The Abduction of Mahmoud Khalil https://www.unpopularfront.news/p/the-abduction-of-mahmoud-khalil
••• Yale Suspends Scholar After A.I.-Powered News Site Accuses Her of Terrorist Link https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/12/us/yale-suspends-scholar-terrorism.html
••• The 200+ Sites an ICE Surveillance Contractor is Monitoring https://www.404media.co/the-200-sites-an-ice-surveillance-contractor-is-monitoring/
Standing Plugs:
••• Order Jathan’s new book: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite
••• Subscribe to Ed’s substack: https://substack.com/@thetechbubble
••• Subscribe to TMK on patreon for premium episodes: https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (bsky.app/profile/jathansadowski.com) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (bsky.app/profile/jebr.bsky.social)
A judge held a hearing to determine if the Trump Administration violated a court order when it deported several hundred migrants to El Salvador. Probationary employees fired from the nation's top cyber defense agency last month will be reinstated. The governor of severe storm-ravaged Mississippi says the size and scope of the devastation are still being determined. CBS News Correspondent Jennifer Keiper with tonight's World News Roundup.
One consequences of Trump's anti-DEI initiatives is the disbanding of a talented youth orchestra featured on 60 Minutes. The Spiel analyzes the recent U.S. airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, comparing the Trump administration's more aggressive approach to previous military engagements and questioning whether tough talk translates to meaningful strategic differences. And Russell Shorto, author of "Taking Manhattan: The Extraordinary Events That Created New York and Shaped America," explores the fascinating Dutch origins of New York City, and the far-sighted decision to give it up without a fight.
"Oopsie, too late. "That post on X from the President of El Salvador got retweeted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio over the weekend with a laugh-crying emoji over a headline about a judge's ruling.
The judge ordered the Trump Administration not to deport Venezuelans to El Salvador.
That came after a Brown University physician in the United States on an H1-B visa from Lebanon was sent back. Even though a federal judge issued an order that she appear at an in-person hearing on Monday.
In a court filing today, lawyers for the government said US Customs and Border Patrol officers said they didn't learn of the order until after the doctor was sent back.
The administration insists it is not defying court orders. Trump hasn't yet openly and explicitly defied the courts. Can he undermine them just by flirting with defiance?
For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
"Oopsie, too late. "That post on X from the President of El Salvador got retweeted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio over the weekend with a laugh-crying emoji over a headline about a judge's ruling.
The judge ordered the Trump Administration not to deport Venezuelans to El Salvador.
That came after a Brown University physician in the United States on an H1-B visa from Lebanon was sent back. Even though a federal judge issued an order that she appear at an in-person hearing on Monday.
In a court filing today, lawyers for the government said US Customs and Border Patrol officers said they didn't learn of the order until after the doctor was sent back.
The administration insists it is not defying court orders. Trump hasn't yet openly and explicitly defied the courts. Can he undermine them just by flirting with defiance?
For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
"Oopsie, too late. "That post on X from the President of El Salvador got retweeted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio over the weekend with a laugh-crying emoji over a headline about a judge's ruling.
The judge ordered the Trump Administration not to deport Venezuelans to El Salvador.
That came after a Brown University physician in the United States on an H1-B visa from Lebanon was sent back. Even though a federal judge issued an order that she appear at an in-person hearing on Monday.
In a court filing today, lawyers for the government said US Customs and Border Patrol officers said they didn't learn of the order until after the doctor was sent back.
The administration insists it is not defying court orders. Trump hasn't yet openly and explicitly defied the courts. Can he undermine them just by flirting with defiance?
For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
In Germany's national elections a few weeks ago, one statistic stood out to our Berlin-based correspondent: almost half of young German voters cast their ballot for either the far-right or far-left parties. And the divide between extreme left and extreme right in young people seems to fall along gender lines. We try to find out why it seems the youth in Germany are moving to the extremes.
Here’s the advice Victor Davis Hanson prescribes on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words”:
“ We need to be very careful how we speak. The quieter that we can be, the more effective and more encompassing can be the reforms. And we're going to try to make sure that we're not an existential enemy of China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and an array of anti-Western societies.
“ As far as Ukraine, Donald Trump is under all sorts of criticism because he, at first, had a legitimate beef with [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy. … All he has to say is, ‘Vladimir Putin did not invade in my first term. He invaded during Barack Obama's term and Joe Biden's term. Even George W. Bush's term he invaded. It wasn't I who got us into this mess. We cannot watch aimlessly and helplessly as 1.5 million lives are consumed with death, wounding, capture, missing—these casualties.’”
Updates on space exploration. A seemingly-symbolic quarrel between an eagle and a goose. Large language models try out religion and pre-crime, all as a recent graduate gets deported for his political views. In other news, light becomes solid, prompting Ben and the gang to call for input from a physicist. All this and more in this week's strange news segment.