Rise of Fascism in the United States [SPLIT]

[80KGold]

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Can we post this on the giant screen at the front so that the people waaay at the back can see?

 

[fallsguy]

 

[KaraBulut]

Another loss for the wannabe fascist and the DUI hire Pete Hegseth:

And it's a win for media organizations that don't capitulate.

https://apnews.com/article/pentagon-policy-news-reporters-hegseth-dc7a69b7e7c3f618b3879d9cafec9b25

Judge sides with New York Times in challenge to policy limiting reporters’ access to Pentagon

A federal judge agreed Friday to block the Trump administration from enforcing a policy limiting news reporters’ access to the Pentagon, agreeing with The New York Times that key portions of the new rules are unlawful.

U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman in Washington, D.C., sided with the newspaper and ruled that the Pentagon policy illegally restricts the press credentials of reporters who walked out of the building rather than agree to the new rules.

The Times sued the Pentagon and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in December, claiming the credentialing policy violates the journalists’ constitutional rights to free speech and due process.

The current Pentagon press corps is comprised mostly of conservative outlets that agreed to the policy. Reporters from outlets that refused to consent to the new rules, including from The Associated Press, have continued reporting on the military.

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71992017/new-york-times-company-v-department-of-defense/

OPINION granting plaintiffs' 10 Motion for Summary Judgment and denying defendants' 22 Cross Motion for Summary Judgment. Defendants shall file a status report on or before March 27, 2026. See Opinion for details. Signed by Judge Paul L. Friedman on March 20, 2026. (lccm) (Entered: 03/20/2026)

 

[rareboy]

A slam dunk for the win...these protestors were an inspiration to the nation...showing that being willing to sacrifice everything...a community can beat back police state fascism.

This one is for all the innocent citizens murdered by the state.

 

[rareboy]

There you go. Time to send in the private army to do someone else's job for the pat-downs. Doubt if they will be allowed to be masked.

 

[Thad1527]

Oh. gawd. Tom Homan. Bring a bag of money.

There are 20 US airports that don't use TSA. They have contracted with private firms to do security screenings. This is legal. Most of these are small airports, such as Atlantic City. But two majors use private firms: Kansas City and San Francisco.
It's pretty much business as usual there.

 

[fallsguy]

 

[KaraBulut]

Trump is attempting to put more inexperienced, unqualified candidates on the Federal bench.

In exchanges during their confirmation hearings, the nominees would not admit that Joe Biden was elected President in 2020 and that Jan 6th was an attack on the US Capitol.

 

[rareboy]

And they will all get confirmed....likely with the support of Fetterman.

 

[fallsguy]

DC and Paris

 

[KaraBulut]

There's several traits that all autocrats have in common. One of them is overt pay-to-play bribery and another is how the enrich themselves (and their family members) with generous donations from wealthy people and wealthy corporations looking for favors.

Americans learn certain things about Watergate in history class: the break-in, the Nixon tapes, etc.

What seldom gets mentioned is that the Watergate affair started with a $400,000 bribe paid by a company called International Telephone & Telegraph (ITT) to the RNC. ITT had an anti-trust case in front of the Nixon Administration. After the $400,000 "donation", the anti-trust litigation was dropped.


Independent media has been doing some reporting about a Mar-A-Lago groupie named Mike Davis. Mr Davis is a lawyer, election denier and MAGA hanger-on. Mr Davis has been bragging about how he hand-picked the nominees to replace Biden-era Anti-Trust Division in the Trump Department of Justice. This included the Chief of the Antitrust division, an attorney named, Gail Slater.The Biden appointees had been aggressively pursuing anti-trust litigation against several companies like Google and Hewlett-Packard.

Hewlett-Packard (HP) wants to merge with Juniper Networks- a $14 billion deal. HP paid a $1 million fee to Mike Davis. After the attorneys in the DOJ Anti-Trust division didn't rubber-stamp the HP-Juniper merger, Trump and Todd Blanche fired them. They also just fired Gail Slater.

The stories that had been circulating on blogs and in independent media just got picked up by Bloomberg:

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/antitrust/good-riddance-how-a-maga-acolyte-helped-oust-antitrust-chief

‘Good Riddance’: How a MAGA Acolyte Helped Oust Antitrust Chief

Abigail Slater’s ouster as the Trump administration’s antitrust chief was abrupt, yet also a long time coming.

On Thursday morning, Slater was telling confidants in Washington that she intended to move forward with the agency’s work, even as rumors circulated she might be leaving. Just before 11 a.m., she announced her departure in a post on X.

Slater, who took over as the top antitrust cop less than a year ago, had gotten a call from the White House personnel office, according to people with knowledge of the matter. It was the culmination of months of tensions with more business-friendly factions in the administration, along with the influence of government outsiders like Mike Davis, a MAGA firebrand who has emerged as a powerful advocate for companies seeking mergers.

Why does it matter? Because after the ITT mess, Congress passed a law called the Tunney Act that requires a judge to review and approve merger deals. Bloomberg's story comes out at the time when the HP-Juniper merger is going before a judge for review.

An Attempted Coup at the Antitrust Division

MAGA-linked operatives are trying to overthrow populists at the Antitrust Division over a corrupt $14 billion merger deal. The wrinkle is a liberal judge has the power to expose what's happening.

www.thebignewsletter.com

An Attempted Coup at the Antitrust Division
MAGA-linked operatives are trying to overthrow populists at the Antitrust Division over a corrupt $14 billion merger deal. The wrinkle is a liberal judge has the power to expose what's happening.

Something unusual happening in the antitrust world this week. On Wednesday evening, there was an attempted coup by what looks like MAGA-linked corporate lobbyists against Gail Slater, Trump’s Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust. Slater is known as something of a populist, having worked in roles opposing Google, and staffing J.D. Vance in the Senate. So this attack is involves two different factions on the right competing over power. And like stories involving massive amounts of money and power hidden behind cultural disputes, just two outlets - The Capitol Forum and Semafor - reported on it.

The backstory is that a few weeks ago, acting associate attorney general Chad Mizelle - Pam Bondi’s chief of staff - got into a fight with Slater over what looks like an obscure and sort of unimportant merger, Hewlett Packard’s $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks. The two companies make wifi systems for big campuses, like universities or corporations, and there are just three firms in the market.

It’s a pretty obvious case, and the Division filed to block the merger in January, to the cheers of MAGA influencer Mike Davis, who is close with Donald Trump and was responsible for judicial nominations during much of Trump’s first term. Davis is known as a populist, a fierce defender of Trump, and someone supportive of the cases against big tech. He’s a frequent guest on Steve Bannon’s show, and helped defeat the AI regulation moratorium. This challenge suggested that Davis’ brand of populism was on the ascent, and it scared Wall Street.

Don't be surprised if HP makes a big donation to the ballroom project or to the RNC or to one of Trump's PACs. Don't be surprised if they sponsor golf tournaments at Trump's properties. HP paid big money to Mike Davis. You can bet that Trump also got in on the action, which explains why all those people at the DOJ standing in HP's way got fired and why the merger got approved by the Anti-Trust Division at DOJ.

And the HP story is bringing up several other merger cases that got approved without Slater's consent.

What a Million Dollars Now Buys at the DOJ: Mike Davis | flyingpenguin

www.flyingpenguin.com

Here’s the simple math. Slater had been confirmed 78-19, in the most bipartisan vote of Trump’s second term after Rubio. She was supposed to be the whole face of “MAGA antitrust,” the populist enforcement wing that would take on Big Tech and corporate monopolies.

Then she discovered MAGA isn’t about rule of law. It’s a dictatorship — chaotic by design, because stability would mean someone could hold the rules steady long enough to enforce them. She found the antitrust division was being bypassed entirely, not to serve policy but to serve whoever could pay the right fixer.

Live Nation hired Davis and Kellyanne Conway to negotiate a settlement directly with senior DOJ officials, cutting the antitrust division and Slater out. When Slater opposed settling the HPE-Juniper merger, AG Bondi’s chief of staff overruled her and fired two top deputies. When Slater and her lawyers recommended an extended review of the Compass-Anywhere real estate merger, DOJ leadership cleared it after Compass’s lawyers went directly to Deputy AG Todd Blanche.

Former MAGA Attorney Goes Scorched Earth With Corruption Allegations In Antitrust Division - Above the Law

Flame on!

abovethelaw.com

 

[cityboy-stl]

Conditioning us, little by little, to accept and normalize, but not resist the Fascist police state.

 

[KaraBulut]

There's several traits that all autocrats have in common. One of them is overt pay-to-play bribery and another is how the enrich themselves (and their family members) with generous donations from wealthy people and wealthy corporations looking for favors.

And the next time you buy a concert ticket and you wonder why they are so expensive, it's because of Trump and because you're financing some bribe that LiveNation/Ticketmaster. The "settlement" was negotiated at the White House in a meeting with Pam Bondi and the CEO of LiveNation without anyone from the DOJ Anti-trust Division in attendance.

The settlement was presented to the judge overseeing the anti-trust case and the DOJ attorney representing the government admitted to the judge that he had never seen the settlement agreement before it was given to the judge.

Justice Department and Live Nation reach settlement over illegal monopoly case

The Justice Department says it's reached a settlement in its antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and its parent company, California-based Live Nation Entertainment that will benefit consumers by letting competitors play a role in ticket sales and force Live Nation to give up control of 13 amphith

apnews.com

Justice Department and Live Nation reach settlement over illegal monopoly case

The Justice Department touted a tentative settlement of its antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and parent company Live Nation Entertainment on Monday as a victory for consumers that would end an illegal monopoly over live events in America, but over two dozen states planned to keep fighting the companies in court.

The negotiations leading up to the agreement drew criticism from the judge who would have to approve any deal as soon as a government lawyer revealed it in Manhattan federal court, where an antitrust trial began last week. Throughout the day, various state attorneys general issued statements criticizing the agreement.

Don't be surprised if LiveNation makes a big donation to the Trump's Big Beautiful Ballroom.

Trump Just Pardoned Ticketmaster When No One Was Looking

The Trump DOJ settled with Ticketmaster, while state enforcers said they'll continue. The judge is mad, the parties showed "absolute disrespect for the court, for the jury, for this entire process."

www.thebignewsletter.com

Trump Just Pardoned Ticketmaster When No One Was Looking
The Trump DOJ settled with Ticketmaster, while state enforcers said they'll continue. The judge is mad, the parties showed "absolute disrespect for the court, for the jury, for this entire process."

There are a also bunch of oddities in the process, to say the leaset. First, the settlement was seemingly hidden from Judge Arun Subramanian. The term sheet was signed on March 5th by the CEO of Live Nation and the Acting Assistant Attorney General. The following day, there was a meeting in chambers with the judge. No one brought up the fact that there was movement with a settlement. “It was never stated to me that there was an executed term sheet that was signed the prior day,” Judge Subramanian said.

The judge apparently first found out about the executed term sheet last night. “Among other things I received notification of at 8pm last night that the parties had a term sheet,” he said. “You know what was not attached to that email? A term sheet.” He didn’t get eyes on the term sheet until 6:30 am this morning. The closest to irate this otherwise temperate judge has gotten, he told the DOJ and Live Nation that their conduct “shows absolute disrespect for the court, for the jury, for this entire process.”