A week of an Indigenous community occupying an oil pipeline, a tent company profiting from detaining immigrants and Trump spending billions on border control

Hi, I’m Marcela: I’m a comedian, I live in Brooklyn, and I really like to tell people how to feel about the news. After wowing zoomers all over on TikTok by giving them news with a sense of humour and anarchy, I decided to start a weekly Sunday newsletter to share my feelings about more news. 

My newsletter has evolved into this beautiful news column for shado which also covers international news. I hope the newsletter keeps you informed and makes you laugh a little. We live in hell and I believe humour helps keep this place a little bit cooler.

Today I’m sharing my feelings about a tent company profiting from detaining immigrants, Trump spending billions on border control and an Indigenous community in the Amazon occupying an oil pipeline.

Onto the news… 

News that made me say affirmative action for white people has got to go

I mention the wickedness of the United States Empire every day. Yet every day a new evil deed is revealed to me I gasp like a person at brunch who’s just discovered their mimosa is mostly orange juice. I don’t know if you know this but some people take their brunch as seriously as I take human rights violations and those people are democrats. If you don’t believe me, please take a peep at this sign from the 5th April parade. Nonetheless, my purpose for writing this is not to ridicule democrats for their fascist-lite ways, that is for another day.

My purpose for writing this is to share my ire and shock at a tent company known as Deployed Resources receiving a $3.8 billion contract to build a concentration camp at Fort Bliss. By the way, naming a military post Bliss is only something a diabolical project like the United States would do. My apologies for my digression. This piece will be filled with a lot of digressions because I’m actively trying to keep my composure as I read news after news of people being kidnapped. I’m not doing well y’all. Not even my peanut chocolate gems and diffuser are able to calm me down. How are y’all surviving this dystopia sober?

Nonetheless, back to Deployed Resources. It didn’t actually start off as a tent company for pure evil. No, before Deployed Resources was building concentration camps it was providing toilets for music festivals such as Lollapalooza. Feel free to pause and pace around your apartment as I did when I found out about this news.

How did a company building toilets for people to relieve themselves after twerking become a company for inflicting pain? Well obviously it started off with two white men without a soul and unabashed pursuit for wealth at all costs as most evil things in this country begin. 

When you live in a society that prioritises accumulating wealth over humanity, you get Donald Trump’s presidency, the constant assault of Elon Musk’s face, and liberals blaming everyone who didn’t vote for Kamala for fascism. News flash, fascism has always been here. People just didn’t care about it until it got too close to home.

The owners of Deployed Resources met a former FEMA official at “the Bonnaroo music festival” who introduced them to people in the Department of Homeland Security. I know the rot of this country is deep, but someone starting their concentration camp career at a music festival was not in my imagination. Here I am scouring LinkedIn for jobs only to receive rejections sometimes less than 24 hours after I apply – and all it took for Richard Stapleton and Robert Napior to start an evil business empire was to meet someone at a festival. The last time I went to a festival, I left with glitter in my hair, not a multimillion dollar contract. When will we start gutting affirmative action for white people? When we destroy the evil empire.

Affirmative action for white people extends privilege to a few white people while tricking most white people that the system works for them. Trump is deporting immigrants (code word for Black and Brown people) because white people are upset about their poor material conditions and Trump wants to give them a scapegoat. Trump is further gutting DEI because it makes struggling white people feel better knowing the government is openly doing what it’s supposed to do: maintaining a racial hierarchy.

Affirmative action for white people keeps the empire going because it swindles white working class people into neglecting their own class interests. Affirmative action for white people keeps the empire going and vice versa. It’s a never ending loop of evil that can only be destroyed if the empire is gone.

News that made me feel like everyone should leave LinkedIn and start an insurrection

Trump wants Congress to “authorise over 100 billion dollars” for border insecurity while people who live on the border don’t have access to safe drinking water or a hospital. We live in a dystopian society where “security” means oppression, not care. Why spend resources to assure people access to clean drinking water and healthcare when you can spend it on preventing humans from migrating? When people have their needs met then they lack the desperation to serve the capitalists at all costs. 

If I didn’t have to pay for rent which I can’t afford, I wouldn’t be scrolling LinkedIn everyday like it’s a letter from a long lost lover. I really wish people would stop gaslighting each other on that site.

No John, people are not getting rejected from jobs because their resumes didn’t underline and bold all their skills. People are getting rejected from jobs because the capitalists want us to pay for quiet quitting and starting an insurrection. Every single gaslighting post on LinkedIn starts with, I applied for 1000 jobs, got 10 interviews, but I finally got a job that barely covers my living costs, this is what I did to acquire permission to sell my labour. WHAT? NO, GET OFF LINKEDIN AND START AN INSURRECTION. 

Can you imagine if we all stopped spending time on LinkedIn looking for a job and collectively came up with solutions to organize society in a way that benefits us? We’d finally put those Excel skills to good use. Your knowledge of VLOOKUP might serve society instead of a corporate ghoul who is obsessed with space and Katy Perry.

Instead of a society organised for us by us, Cierra Flores’ husband drives hours to get clean water for their home because the US government has decided ginning up white people’s insecurities is more valuable than people living lives with dignity. The border creates a distraction for white people whose material conditions have deteriorated so billionaires can sire an army of could-be monsters. I’m not saying all billionaires’ children are monsters but I think Don Junior and his siblings point to a very high likelihood.

Instead of attacking the cause of their pain, white people are turning on immigrants who grow their kale. Without immigrants there would be no more kale smoothies, Karen. You’d have to drink water after pilates like the rest of us. There also wouldn’t be any new buildings, restaurants, or anything that requires real work. Immigrants run this country yet they are demonised so capital can extract their labour at a low cost.

Yes, anti-immigration is a Buy One, Get One deal for the capitalists! It dissipates any anger towards capitalists for turning our world into a hellscape and provides cheap labour. As a former shopper I would say I hate this deal. The only BOGO I like is when I get two free items from the grocery store. Did you know if you put an item in your personal bag at the grocery store it’s free?

News that made me feel like I’m an expert in complaining

The Awajún, Indigenous to the Amazon, have taken over a Petroperú oil field on their land to oppose repeated oil spills. Petroperú is upset and labels the action illegal as they would like to be left to destroy the environment in peace. You know we live in an upside down world when the villains from Captain Planet call the planeteers criminals. Yes, I know Captain Planet is not real, but the theme song of the show did pop into my mind when I saw a video of the Awajún reclaiming their land.

The fact that an oil company responsible for multiple spills which have destroyed the lives of many people has the nerve to call anything illegal is bold to say the very least. It’s alarming and terrifying. I have trouble defending my love for candy corn yet these villains have no issue destroying lives then claiming righteousness. We need to create a world where these villains go into hiding instead of standing proudly on their destruction. I want a world where Elon Musk is scared and crying, not proud and smirking.

So it brings me the utmost joy to see people directly oppose corporations instead of waiting for the “state”, the corporations’ representatives, to help. One thing that all states have in common is they pretend they are there for the people when, in reality, they are there to oppress the people. For example, when an oil pipeline spilled oil contaminating the water for over 2000 households on 19th March, the state’s response wasn’t to provide immediate care for the harmed; the response was to carry out an investigation to determine the cause of the spill while people were actively suffering.

I’m not claiming to be an expert on anything other than complaining, but if I see broken glass in my apartment, my first step is to clean up the glass. Not to investigate how the glass broke, unless I don’t care about the glass harming people or I want to keep breaking glass for money. I’m not sure if that metaphor made sense but money doesn’t make sense so I will proceed.

Neither the state nor Petroperú cares about anything other than extracting resources from the region. Which is why Petroperu is claiming sabotage as the source of the oil spill instead of accepting full responsibility. No one has ever accused a corporation for caring but people will be shocked when governments, which are tools of corporations, don’t care.

The Awajún and the other seven nations from the Datem del Marañón province know the state and corporations are one, which is why they have taken their land back. Not only have they reclaimed Station 5, but they have also repossessed education and healthcare facilities in their home until the government meets their demands for education. I hope they never concede anything, because this action is beautiful.

Everyday I wish the Lenape (NYC’s Indigenous people) would take their land back from Eric Adams – then we wouldn’t have to keep voting for mayors who we know will do nothing and everyone will hate within five minutes of their mayorship.

The only path to liberation is landback and the abolition of Eric Adams.

I took a break from the news to talk about how we’ve been programmed to accept domination and hierarchy 

@feelthenewswithmarcela Come to Feel the News this Saturday May 3rd @friendsandloversbk to get some more news! Tix in bio #feelthenews #katyperry #excel #vlookup ♬ original sound – Feel the News

See ya later,

Marcela