macro-pulse

[macro-pulse]

“why this is actually unprecedented”

education post because people keep saying “presidents have done this before”

NO. THEY. HAVEN’T.

I’m seeing people say “presidents have used military domestically before” and I need y’all to understand the historical context because this is different.

Presidents have deployed federal military 30 times in 230 years.

Every. Single. Time. it was:

• At state request

• To protect constitutional rights

• During actual rebellions

Examples that were GOOD:

• 1960s: Protecting civil rights protesters from state violence

• 1992: LA riots (at California’s REQUEST)

• Post-Katrina: Disaster relief (at Louisiana’s REQUEST)

What’s happening now:

• Against state’s wishes ✗

• Suppressing constitutional rights ✗

• No actual rebellion ✗

The 1890s-1930s saw troops used for “economic enforcement” (breaking strikes, protecting corporations). Those precedents were discredited as antidemocratic.

We’re literally resurrecting tactics that history rejected.

Military historians are freaking out. Constitutional scholars are using words like “unprecedented.”

When experts who study this for a living say they’ve never seen anything like it, LISTEN.

The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 specifically limits military in civilian law enforcement because Reconstruction-era military occupation was incompatible with democracy.

We’re ignoring lessons written in blood.

If peaceful protest against federal policy = “rebellion” worthy of military response, then:

• Boston Tea Party = rebellion

• Civil rights marches = rebellion

• Anti-war protests = rebellion

• Climate protests = rebellion

See the problem?

[macro-pulse]

“real people are suffering and I can’t stop crying”

tw: family separation, trauma, medical neglect, child endangerment

I’ve been researching the LA situation more and the human cost is destroying me

Kids aren’t going to school because they’re terrified their parents will be gone when they get home.

People are avoiding hospitals even with serious conditions because they’re afraid of arrest by federal troops.

Mixed-status families (where some members are citizens) are being torn apart.

The Zapotec indigenous communities from Mexico who’ve been in LA for generations are being destroyed.

School districts report massive absenteeism. How do you explain to a 7-year-old why there are soldiers in their neighborhood?

Healthcare workers say immigrant communities won’t come in for treatment. People are choosing to suffer rather than risk military detention.

Small businesses operating at 30% capacity because workers are afraid to leave their houses.

Construction projects helping rebuild from wildfires are stalled because immigrant workers are hiding.

So we’re using military force to arrest the people helping us recover from natural disasters.

The psychological trauma will last generations. Kids witnessing military raids in their neighborhoods will carry this for life.

This isn’t just about immigration policy.

This is about basic human dignity.

This is about children’s safety.

This is about communities being terrorized by their own government.

I keep thinking about those kids not going to school and I just… how is this America?

Read next :

[macro-pulse]

“the constitution is literally being shredded”

tw: authoritarianism, legal violence

following up on my LA post because the legal stuff is even more terrifying than I thought

Trump used this random law from 1970 about postal worker strikes to justify military deployment. He specifically AVOIDED the Insurrection Act (the normal law for this) because it has safeguards and he’d have to prove an actual insurrection.

So he found some postal worker statute and said “this will do” to deploy military against American citizens.

Let that sink in.

California sued immediately. Federal Judge Charles Breyer said “yeah this is completely illegal” and ordered troops home.

But the 9th Circuit overruled that 2.5 hours later.

So federal troops are still in LA while courts play ping-pong with the Constitution.

The Brennan Center for Justice called it “breathtaking vision of unlimited, unreviewable executive power.”

Translation: Trump is claiming he can deploy military anywhere, anytime, for any reason, and courts can’t stop him.

Constitutional experts are using words like “unprecedented territory” and “constitutional crisis.”

Y’all. This is how democracy dies.

Not with dramatic speeches or obvious coups. With obscure legal precedents and courts that can’t keep up with authoritarian creativity.

If this precedent stands, any president can deploy military against any state that disagrees with federal policy.

Today: immigration in California

Tomorrow: abortion in Texas, voting rights in Georgia, gun laws in Montana

The precedent is everything.

Read next

[macro-pulse]

“wait WHAT is happening in LA??”

tw: military deployment, police violence

okay but can we talk about what’s happening in LA right now because I’M LOSING MY MIND

Trump just deployed 4,700 federal troops to the streets of Los Angeles. Not the border. Not some war zone. Los Angeles. American streets. American neighborhoods.

4,000 National Guard + 700 Marines.

Against peaceful protesters.

In 2025.

In America.

This started because ICE raided workplaces - Fashion District, Home Depot parking lots, construction sites. Places where people go to work and try to survive. They arrested 851+ people and when the community protested, Trump’s response was to send in the military.

I need y’all to understand: This has NEVER happened before. Not like this.

Every other time federal troops were deployed domestically, it was either:

• At the state’s request

• To PROTECT civil rights

• During actual rebellions

California said NO. Governor Newsom explicitly told Trump not to do this. Trump did it anyway.

The last time this happened was 1965 during Selma. But that was to PROTECT protesters from state violence.

This is the OPPOSITE. This is federal troops to SUPPRESS protesters.

Do you see the difference??? Because it’s HUGE.

If you’re thinking “this can’t be real” - Google it. Federal troops are on American streets right now as I’m typing this.

This is not a drill.

This is not normal.

This is happening.

[macro-pulse]

Was the Dream of Homeownership a Mirage?

There's this thing we were told since we were kids.

Work hard, save money, and buy your own home.

That this was "the good life." That this was the American Dream.

Stability. A ticket to the middle class. A fortress for your family.

That dream might have been real once.

For our parents' generation, a house wasn't just a house.

It was the surest way to build wealth, a shield to protect your assets from inflation.

The belief that once you bought a house, you could escape the cycle of rent forever.

That belief held society together.

But what about now?

The reality we face is just endless competition.

A price tag that feels impossible to reach, even with a lifetime of savings.

A world where faceless investment firms snatch up houses with all-cash offers.

The feeling of "what's the point of working so hard if I'll just be paying rent for the rest of my life?"

It's because the purpose of a house has changed.

To you, a house is a home. To them, a house is just an asset.

Wall Street and massive corporations figured it out. Housing is a basic human necessity. It's a product people can't refuse.

So they buy up homes and 'lease' them to us.

They buy our dream, and sell it back to us, one rent check at a time.

The dream we were chasing probably wasn't a lie.

It was real, for a while.

But now it's become a mirage.

The closer you get, the further away it seems, like a shimmer of heat you can never touch.

If 'homeownership'—the most important pillar for building a middle class—has now become a tool to dismantle it,

what are we supposed to dream of now?

[macro-pulse]

Two American Nightmares, One Broken Dream

We keep talking about the "economic crisis" in America as if it's one single story.

It’s not.

It’s two entirely different tragedies happening at the same time, caused by the same storm.

Story #1: The Ghost of a Lost Future

This is the story of the fall of the white middle class.

It's a story about loss.

It's the story of the factory that closed down. The union job that vanished. The Main Street that got boarded up. It’s the feeling that the American Dream, which was real and tangible for your parents, was stolen.

The despair here is rooted in nostalgia. It’s a haunted feeling.

It’s the pain of having a seat at the table, only to have it pulled out from under you.

Story #2: The Exhaustion of a Locked Door

This is the story of entrenched Black poverty.

It's a story about being locked out.

It's the story of redlining that made homeownership impossible. Of schools that were never funded properly. Of centuries of stolen wealth and opportunity. It’s the feeling that the American Dream was never, ever meant for you in the first place.

The despair here is rooted in exhaustion. It's a tired feeling.

It's the pain of never being allowed in the room where the table is.

Don't get it twisted. The same forces are crushing both groups—wage stagnation, corporate greed, policies that favor the super-rich.

But the powerful want these two groups to blame each other. They want the ghosts of the past to fight the exhaustion of the present.

Solidarity isn't about pretending these struggles are the same.

Solidarity is about understanding precisely how they are different, and deciding to fight the real enemy, together.

[macro-pulse]

Your Dreams Are Their Food

We use the words "wealth gap" too often.

It's too polite, too clean. It makes it sound like a natural phenomenon.

But that's not what it feels like, is it?

This isn't a gap.

It's closer to a food chain.

They feed on our 'dreams.'

And by 'dreams,' I don't mean anything grand. Just the simple, basic things.

🏡 The dream of owning a home.

🎓 The dream of graduating without debt.

💼 The dream of getting fair pay for hard work.

Let me show you how these simple dreams become their food.

First Course: Shelter

Venture capital and investment firms buy up houses across the country. They're not buying them for people to live in. They're buying them to turn our 'shelter' into a 'financial product.'

The rent we have to pay for the rest of our lives becomes their stable revenue stream. Our opportunity to own a home vanishes, and their portfolios get fatter.

The dream of owning a home is feeding them.

Second Course: Education

We go into debt to get a college degree for a better future.

That debt isn't just debt. To financial institutions, it's a very attractive 'asset.' The interest we'll pay for decades becomes a steady source of income for them.

Our desire for a better life becomes their asset.

In the end, this is the pattern.

The wealth of the top 1% isn't just sitting there. It's a living organism that constantly feeds on our most basic needs and dreams to grow itself.

This isn't 'success.'

It's exploitation.

[macro-pulse]

ever feel like the game is rigged? (it is)

You ever just stare at your bank account and think… how?

Like, you’re doing the work. You’re grinding. You have the degree, you have the two jobs, you have the side hustle that’s supposed to be your “passion project” but is really just your “pay the electricity bill” project.

And you’re still broke.

The advice you get is always the same. “Stop buying coffee.” “Be better with money.”

It’s exhausting. And it’s a lie.

Your financial anxiety isn’t a personal failure. It’s a ghost haunting you from an era of big hair and neon leg warmers.

Let’s talk about the 80s.

Back then, a new idea took over America: Reaganomics.

The simple version? Cut taxes for the super-rich and giant corporations. The promise was that the money would “trickle down” to the rest of us.

It didn't trickle. It evaporated on its way down.

What actually happened was that wealth got sucked upwards, into a vacuum. The people at the top got richer than ever, while wages for normal people just… stopped. For forty years.

They dismantled the idea that if you work hard, you get a fair slice of the pie. They rewrote the rules to make sure the house (aka the 1%) always wins.

So, how does that connect to your empty wallet right now?

Those policies created the perfect playground for the next monster to evolve:

The Algorithm.

The gig economy. The freelance hustle. The warehouse job where a computer tracks your bathroom breaks. The delivery app that nudges your pay down, penny by penny.

That’s the ghost of the 80s wearing a tech-bro hoodie.

The system was already designed to squeeze workers. Technology just made it a thousand times more efficient.

It’s a one-two punch:

The Legacy: A system designed to funnel wealth to the top.

The Curse: An algorithm designed to automate that process.

You’re not failing a fair game. You’re playing a rigged one, and the code was written decades ago. It’s not your fault you’re tired. You were designed to be.