David Chico Pham writes on technology, sourdough, and current events.

I am closely watching the panic that setting in at the White House, the MAGA Movement, and right wing media ecosystem. Megyn Kelly, as a vile person herself, stacked rank rape by noting rape of a 15 of year is not as bad as to an 5 year old. Kelly, a mother herself has a 14 year old daughter.

Trump attempted to pressure Representative Boebart to rescind her vote in the petition to discharge in the Situation Room at the White House. She did not and with 218 votes, the House is set to vote next Wednesday on releasing the files.

It is quite fascinating Attorney General Pam Bondi become a human pretzels when testifying in front of Congress about Esptein Files. There is rumors that the photos of Trump with half naked girls ( presumably underage ) among many others in the Esptein files. Bondi notably did not answer if she saw photos in Epstein's safe when she testified before the Senate.

The key to the power behind the Epstein files is that the MAGA movement has been fed a lot propaganda involving a secret cabal of powerful and wealthy elites who sexually abuse children and young women. Esptein as the main central character in this story is thought to had a list of people involved in his decades of sexual assault and rape. MAGA thought Trump will find and expose the secret ring of abusers. They did not expect Trump to be so central to Esptein's communication nor are they ready to face how much of a monster he truly is.

Even his true believers are having a real hard time reconciling their idea of who he is and who he is truly. Watergate, Bill Clinton's scandal, 9/11, Iraq War, and War on Terror, impeachments for Ukraine/Russia, and Jan 6th insurrection all feel as if they are smaller in comparison to the Esptein and Trump. Could the sitting President of the United States be a pedophile -- a man who committed heinous crimes for decades?

The power to take down a President resides in the very root of his power: his base. The base for President Trump is rotted to the core and weak in it's support for him. We might witness something enormous very soon.

The billionaire class were too greedy in their play. They thought they can rule without any pushback from the public. The American people are incredibly angry and tonight demonstrates a real weakness of the Republican party and Trump. It appears a clean sweep for the Democrats.

This is just wild. The next four years, the Republicans in VA are shut out of state politics. If this is a preview for the midterms in 2026, expect a real panic from the Republicans. There is no amount of nonsense that Trump can do to avoid the mounting of a landslide.

Jamelle Bouie and me are thinking the same.

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Our time is now. If I can do it again, I'd would wake up earlier and fight these empire bastards.

I helped organize my workplace. We started around when COVID vaccines were starting to circulate. We had about a few people in a slack channel at first, but we grew over time. After 4 years of underground organizing, we went public and won our election. Today I am an elected official for my union.

There is no work I am more proud of -- no app I've built -- than building a worker-led union. I feel that in my bones.

The working class deserves unions. It's the basis of power for everyday people. Moreover, its a way to rein in the excesses of the billionaire class. Here we stand at the abyss, where they tell us to use AI in everything such that they can make more money. Do we see a dollar more in our salaries if we are 5x more productive? Do we have more affordable healthcare if we get those prompts in? Or how about working from home instead commuting to the office while national guard and ICE agents patrol in the city? No we don't.

If there is a path to fighting back and claiming our power, it's organizing, collective action, and unionizing.

I listened to Kara Swisher talked to Trevor Noah. She said she bullied Obama in doing more and getting out there more. These are emergency times and you can't be on the sidelines, just chatting with celebrity friends.

Garrett Graff's excellent essay is on the shutdown and Democrats last chance at using whatever little power they do have. The Democrats must ask themselves an important question: what are laws when they are not enforced?

If appropriations bills are not seen as enforceable contracts, why should any Member of Congress vote to fund any part of the federal government under Donald Trump? You're voting to provide money for lawlessness.

Currently the Democrats are winning public opinion, but not in terms of the above problem. Instead the Democrats went back to their safe topic: healthcare. However, this is one senator that is calling what it is, and that is Chris Murphy.

Meanwhile the media and Republicans are treating this is as politics as usual. Graff is arguing that we are not even remotely in that space.

We aren’t just outside the bounds of normal constitutional operations; we’re several standard deviations outside anything America has ever experienced before. We can clearly see what’s happening is wrong—illegal and unconstitutional—and the actors who can do something about that just … aren’t.

Actors include not just Senator Schumer and Representative Jeffries, but I'd argue Tim Cook who has been bending into a pretzel to avoid taxes on iPhones. Tim Cook is set to retire soon. He should push Apple's weight around and push the Trump administration.

How you may ask? What would Steve Jobs say and do? Maybe taking out one page ads in Wall Street Journal or flooding the social media market with ads demanding tariffs to lowered. I will go further: leak Esptein's iCloud account, with all the text messages from him. If corporate power is largest it hasn't been since the second gilded age, then let's encourage Mr. Cook to join the rebellion.

What can be said when facing such an extreme political climate? What is the point of laws when the President can just not follow them and the Republican Congress doesn’t do anything about it. We've blown passed constitutional crisis. We are instead in a constitutional nadir, flatlining as we argue extending ACA healthcare subsidies.

"Want to know the future?", the man stops Arnold Schwarzenegger's character on his way to Last Resorts.

"What about the past?", Schwarzenegger counters.

Can't help but to think we are currently battling for the past in 2025.

Look what you made the Onion do.

Anil Dash on Tim Cook selling out Steve Jobs:

Many people have the quisling impulse to insist that Apple had to kiss Trump’s ass. “They’ll be stuck with really high tariffs!" “They might lose government contracts!" This is foolishness, of course, because all of this will still happen.

You can't give an inch to these fascists. You can say they are not reasonable like you and me. Adam Serwer of the Atlantic did a recent piece that argues American elites have failed the country deeply. They have surrendered like little bitches.

The sheer number of American elites willing to acquiesce to the destruction of democratic institutions is demoralizing. But it’s worth noting that many ordinary people seem to be made of sterner stuff. ICE detainees such as the Palestinian-rights activist Mahmoud Khalil, for example, have continued to speak publicly about the administration’s abuses.

Most certainly, Jobs would of shown much more fight had he be alive now. He might even tell Tim Cook to go fuck off if he tried to gesture sympathies to shareholders value. I can imagine Jobs pointing to Meta's campus, and saying to Cook, "if you care about money so much, go work for a cigarette company."

Anil Dash again with the clarity of the moment:

There's no point in having fuck-you money in the bank if you never say "fuck you"! ... Here is an idea: Apple could, rather than creating golden bribes for child sexual predators, actually send a message to its users explaining that it would like to continue providing value to its customers, and ask those customers for help making that case to their elected officials.

The message is simple. Shut down the consolidation of power and end the funding of an autocrat takeover. There is no second chance after this round of government funding. If Senator Schumer finds his spine in time, we have a chance to save our country. If he doesn't, may God have mercy on our Republic.

"I want to be very clear. Donald Trump is corrupting the government," warns Ezra Klein. Schumer heed this alarm.