Kurt Taylor Gaubatz
@kurttg.bsky.social
89 followers 73 following 260 posts
Independent scholar & analyst-Washington DC. Previously Old Dominion, Oxford, & Stanford Universities. Democracy & foreign policy, int'l law, research methods, & political philosophy. Some work now on econ forecasting, philosophy & the equality of women.
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I wonder what the green lady would think about this?

Trump Considers Overhaul of Refugee System That Would Favor White People www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...
Reposted by Kurt Taylor Gaubatz
Don't say I didn't warn ya'll. A friend reminds me that 14 years ago when I was a Baby Melissa Reporter, I snuck into the world's largest rare earth mine in China. This is what I said at the time. It was a supply chain security issue then, as it is now.
Basically this weekend is going to be frogs vs toadies.
Violence! Kinda surprising that no one else in the Middle East thought to try that out before.
President Trump said Tuesday that the U.S. could step in to disarm Hamas — “quickly and perhaps violently” — if the organization did not do so itself, a potential vulnerability in the ceasefire agreement.
Trump says U.S. will disarm Hamas if it does not do so itself
Hamas has not yet publicly agreed to or signed anything that specifies how it would disarm, but Trump suggested he had received verbal assurances the group would.
www.washingtonpost.com
About as accurate as his take on the Portland war zone.
I'm planning to be at No Kings on the 18th. But I hear someone is handing out Cava bags of cash for attending. Where do we get that? (And do we have to report it on our taxes?)
No Kings March Logo
A few days ago the Post ran a puff piece on the safety and necessity of coal mining.

"Down in a Pennsylvania Mine I Saw Coal's Future"

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Today in NYT:

Coal Miners With Black Lung Say They Are ‘Cast Aside to Die’ Under Trump www.nytimes.com/2025/10/13/c...
Coal Miners With Black Lung Say They Are ‘Cast Aside to Die’ Under Trump
www.nytimes.com
I wonder what is the count of fake-ICE incidents vs actual antifa violence over the past 9 months.
This isn’t surprising but without proper ID, I can easily see how it is happening. How do we, as citizens, ensure that proper ID and warrants are required by all Federal employees? I know some states are now requiring it.
ICE impersonator incidents rise during Trump’s second term | CNN
A CNN review has found two dozen incidents of people posing as ICE officers in 2025 – more incidents than during the prior four presidential terms combined.
www.cnn.com
Reposted by Kurt Taylor Gaubatz
Of course previous presidents thought bringing China into the global system would give them some balancing cards. Trump thought knocking over the table and yelling was the same as having the winning cards.
Well, maybe, except that we've known about the vulnerability on rare earths for twenty years. Maybe we thought the game was chess when it was really more like one of those Trump card games where we don't have the cards and presidents from both parties haven't made much of an attempt to get them.
Trump says he is pruning the “Democrat” parts of the government. Good enough. Republicans and Democrats agree then that the Democrats are about controlling diseases. Should make some effective campaign ads.
BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:
Well sure, but remember Letitia James may have pulled down $18,000 from the Norfolk house she bought for her grand-niece. And don't get me started on Hunter Biden.
Reposted by Kurt Taylor Gaubatz
Who could have predicted that rare earths would give China significant leverage in a trade war?

Oh yeah, pretty much of anyone who reads the fake-news NYT.

China corners market in a high-tech necessity www.nytimes.com/2006/01/22/b...
China corners market in a high-tech necessity (Published 2006)
www.nytimes.com
I'm trying to remember, what was the name of the court case that ensured American citizens like Francisco Miranda were guaranteed certain procedural rights when being arrested?
This is not a border crossing.
There’s no law that any of us have to show our papers on the interior.

This is a blatant civil rights violation. How is anyone supposed to know whether this man is a real ICE agent or just pretending to be one?!
And that is without any meat in my shopping cart. I suppose the price of soybeans should be coming down now that I'm not competing for them with 1 billion Chinese consumers.
It’s pretty scary that Kristi Noem, The Secretary of Homeland Security, appears to be completely ignorant of the organizational differences between Antifa, TdA, and Hamas.
The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.
This was a technique Saddam Hussein was said to use to test and enforce loyalty in the Republican Guards. Armed men would burst in to a barracks at night and say "we're going to overthrow Saddam, are you with us or against us?" In that case, the wrong answer was an immediate death sentence.
Kristi Noem *Homeland Security* was just there. I'm sure she is reporting back to set him straight so they can move on to real problems.
I'm a bit tired of poll reports based on 51-53% of the population favoring something. Nice to know, but please wake me up when there is any consequential change in the states and districts that gave us Trump and his congressional majorities in 2024.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/u...
Voters Favor Deporting Those in U.S. Illegally, but Say Trump Has Gone Too Far
www.nytimes.com
So now the failure by politicians to take action when law enforcement is under attack is a jailable offence. Let's talk again about that 187 minutes on January 6...
Picture of January 6 riot at the Capitol building.